Chapter 15
The morning of September 2, 1993 brought about an unprecedented event in Wiltshire. Narcissa Malfoy, Lady of the Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy, and daughter of the Ancient and Noble House of Black, lost her composure at the breakfast table.
It started out as all second-day-of-Hogwarts-term mornings did, with a letter from her son. Lucius was gracious enough to always allow her to read these letters first. Aeolus, her son's owl, knew this and flew straight for her. She took the letter from him and he was finishing off the rasher of bacon she'd given him in return when she shrieked.
The poor owl, who was not used to such dramatics from the woman, gave a panicky flap of his wings and immediately took off for the owlery where it was safe. Her husband had leapt out of his chair and rounded the table so quickly he was able to catch the parchment, which was the cause of her distress, before it fell to her plate.
She didn't even seem to see him. She just pushed herself up and out of her chair, and had started to charge out of the room when he caught her around the waist.
"Cissa, what are you doing?"
"I'm going to remove our children from that death trap of a school!"
He kept one arm wrapped firmly around her waist and used the other hand to deftly unfold the parchment. He quickly read his son's words, and his reaction was the opposite to his wife's. He went completely still.
Narcissa seized on his distraction as an opportunity to escape, wrenching out of his grasp. He caught her again in moments, with his hand like a vice around her upper arm. She struggled relentlessly but it seemed there would be no escaping him this time without the use of her wand.
"Cissa, you need to calm down."
"Calm down, you're telling me to calm down!" she hissed, "there were dementors on that train with our children," she spat in his face, "I'm through, it's time to get them out of the country."
He took a deep breath.
"I'm just as upset as you are, but we need to discuss this rationally."
She continued to squirm in his grasp, "obviously you're not if you can be rational right now," she accused, her face a mask of disbelief.
"Listen to me Narcissa," he barked, shaking her slightly.
She froze, he'd never treated her so roughly and it immediately got her attention. Her eyes snapped to his
"We have to tread lightly right now, marching up to Hogwarts and yanking Draco out of school won't help anything," he barked.
"At least they'd be safe," she countered.
"No, my love, not them, just Draco. You have no authority to take Hermione anywhere."
There was a beat of silence.
"I'll write the Grangers, I'm certain I can get their permission."
"I'm sure you could, but that changes very little. She is still a muggleborn, she is not a legal part of this family, no matter how we view her. You would just be exposing her as being under our protection, something we have no good explanation for. The ministry will have her obliviated before she's allowed off of the grounds. And if we could somehow find a way to sneak her out, past the dementors guarding the place, we'd be dooming her to a lifetime of running and hiding and leaving us all exposed for having taken in a muggleborn in the first place."
She deflated, "Perhaps just Draco for now, until we can come up with a plan."
"He'll never forgive us for that, I know my son, he will look at it as us abandoning her when the chips were down and he'll never fully trust us again. This new development in their relationship means that with each passing day we come closer to the point where, if forced to choose between her and us, Draco will choose her, if we haven't already passed it. If we want to keep this family together, as a team, we have to consider them as one now. This is what you hoped for, we have to deal with the reality of it now."
Just then Atalanta flew in and landed on Lucius' shoulder, settling in and extending her leg to allow him to remove the letter she was carrying. She looked at Narcissa, big eyes full of questions.
"Hello girl," he said gently, "I suppose Hermione has sent us her account of what happened?"
"I promise not to storm off to Hogwarts before we've discussed this," Narcissa said quietly, head pounding with emotion, and nodded towards the owl, he released her arm.
He untied the letter for the owl's leg and looked at her, "I'm through here, how about you?"
"I certainly don't have an appetite anymore."
He sent Atalanta off to rest before returning to Hogwarts, and took her arm, much more gently this time, "perhaps we should retire to my study, just to be safe."
She just nodded in agreement, but thought that the need for privacy and secrecy was becoming too common of an occurrence.
They sat side by side on his sofa and read Hermione's letter together. It was, as expected, a much more detailed account. Narcissa's eyes welled with tears when she read about the effect the dementors had on her. She assumed she would experience something similar if she was ever faced with one.
Also, beneath her fear, there was a little bit of pride that they'd cultivated a relationship with the young witch that was strong enough that she'd written to them so openly and honestly, trusted them with something so private. Hermione wasn't stupid, she knew how revealing it was that in her greatest despair it was Draco she'd feared for.
"Well, they are at least safe in the castle for now, and if she was experiencing any lasting effects from the encounter she might have glossed over it, but Draco wouldn't have," he held up a hand to stop her before she could interrupt, "I know this is far from ideal. I will go see the Minister and the other members of the Board today, see if I can't convince them to change their stance now that these creatures have proven how untrustworthy they are. Fortunately, Dumbledore is on our side in this, and as much of a judgemental interfering old man as he is, he is at least a mighty wizard who is not going to sit back and let creatures of such darkness over run his school."
"You're trusting Dumbledore with this," she peered at him incredulously.
He sighed, "I do not see how we have another choice."
She took a deep breath and made a concerted effort to uncurl her fists, her fingernails were digging into her palms and they were beginning to sting. She looked down to see that she had drawn blood. Lucius reached over and gently took both of her hands in one of his. Drawing his wand, he muttered an incantation over them and they both watched as her flesh neatly knitted itself back to its previously pristine alabaster.
He then took her face in his hand and forced her to look at him, "I am sorry I cannot do more, darling."
She leaned heavily into his hands, and then turned her face to kiss one palm before pulling away.
"This is not your fault, I just can't stand feeling so helpless."
"I know what you mean," he sighed.
"Were we terribly naive, thinking that we could handle this? That we could walk this tightrope between the light and the dark?"
"Once again, Cissa I'm not sure we had any other choice. What were we to do? Cut ties with Hermione? Forbid Draco from seeing her? I may not see their connection as you do, but I know that would have been a fruitless endeavor. He would have continued to see her and resented us, and your heart would have been broken."
She just sat there, nodding miserably in agreement.
"And then what?" he continued, "Would we have gone crawling back to the Dark Lord and just hoped we remained in his good favor for the rest of our lives? Watched as he slaughtered people like our Hermione? Fought Hermione herself? Because you know as well as I do, that girl is a fighter, she won't sit back and let him take over, and Draco goes where she does. No, Narcissa, we must carry on and hope that we have luck on our side along with our resources and, if I do say so myself, prodigious skill," he winked at her at that last bit.
She rewarded him with a tight smile.
"I love you," she whispered, leaning forward to rest her forehead against his, "I'll be beside you, until the very end, whatever that might be."
He picked up her hands and brought them to his mouth.
"Being your husband has been the greatest privilege of my life, and I will do everything in my power to make sure that end doesn't come for at least another century."
"That's not long enough," she murmured.
It was, however, so much better than the alternative.
0000000000
When he awoke on the first morning of classes Draco was of two minds. Firstly, he was thrilled. He had managed to get the promise of a kiss out of Hermione (and, more importantly, she seemed as happy about the prospect as he was) and he was actually quite excited to be starting classes. He wasn't the swot his best friend was, but he did like learning, and he was especially excited to start on his elective courses.
But the day before had rattled him to his very core. It had been bad enough when Hermione had been in danger at the end of their first year. That had been nothing in comparison to how he'd felt when he'd heard that there had been an actual dementor in the same small train compartment as her. It took everything he had to keep from falling apart at the seams before he could lay eyes on her and assure himself that she was still...her.
And then came the realization of how very much he needed her. That he quite literally didn't know how he would have continued on without her. That had created an entirely new kind of fear. If her plea from the night before was any indication she felt the same way. Was that normal, for another person to be your world? His parents did seem to almost orbit one another, was this how they felt? He'd always wanted a relationship like their's, but his was so much more than he ever could have imagined.
So, he was doubly anxious to get to breakfast. He wanted to get his course schedule, and he wanted to reassure himself that his best friend wasn't suffering from any lasting damage from the day before. And if he also wanted to see if she seemed as anxious to see him as he was to see her, well that was secondary.
He absently conversed with Crabbe and Goyle, who flanked him, but had very little to say, as usual, and with Pansy and Daphne, who he was sure had intentionally seated themselves across from him, as he ate. Hermione was already seated at the Gryffindor table. She was a naturally early riser and he reveled in the opportunity to observe her without her two stupid friends.
He surreptitiously watched as she made her tea just the way he knew she would. Before she began loading her plate she glanced up and caught his eye. She smiled at him, only slightly, but her eyes danced happily.
He bit back an uncharacteristic grin when he read the course schedule Snape handed him. Apparently, few enough people had signed up for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes that all the houses were combined in one class. And, as luck would have it, Slytherin and Gryffindor were paired to have Care of Magical Creatures together. That meant an additional three classes with Hermione, and for the first time, two of them would be without her friends.
Arithmancy was first. There were only two Slytherins in the class other than himself: Theo Nott and Tracey Davis. While he and Theo were not friends, though he knew that as girls their mothers had been best friends, their Houses had been allied for generations, so It made sense for Draco to seathimself with the quiet boy. He was happy to see that the numbers had worked out so that the other houses were all paired up amongst themselves and Hermione, the only Gryffindor, had to sit with Tracey. Draco didn't know her well, but he was aware that she was a half-blood and a good student, and she would at least refrain from blindly hating his best friend.
The class was interesting enough, but he swore he could actually feel Hermione radiating happiness from across the room and knew he would be getting an earful from her about it later. Transfiguration was normal. It wasn't his favorite but it came much more easily to him since he started working with Hermione. McGonagall could be annoyingly strict but, though he wouldn't admit it under pain of death, she was both fair and a good teacher.
After lunch came the class he'd really been looking forward to: Care of Magical Creatures. Draco had always loved animals of all sort. He didn't know if it had started due to his fascination with his namesake, or if that was just a symptom of what was already a larger interest, but even as a very small child he'd been obsessed with magical creatures.
His parents had indulged him. The majority of his story books were about animals, his mother has regularly taken him down to the stables to visit the creatures his family housed there, and when he'd gotten a little older they'd taken him to various sanctuaries all over Europe. He'd been looking forward to taking CoMC at Hogwarts since he'd learned the course existed.
When they gathered in the clearing where the class met, Draco used Crabbe and Goyle's muscle to push people out of the way so that he could stand near Hermione under the guise of annoying Potter and Weasley. But keeping in mind his promise to Hermione from the night before, he didn't actually say anything to them. It was enough that he knew that his presence would irritate them.
The new CoMC professor was a stout woman by the name of Grubbly-Plank. She was dressed more like a dragon tamer than a professor, and seemed imminently capable. Draco was so thankful his father had spearheaded the campaign to keep that oaf, Hagrid, from getting the job.
Usually the Headmaster had complete control over hiring and firing at Hogwarts, but because Hagrid had been on probation, and hadn't even completed his O.W.L.s much less receive a N.E.W.T. in his specified subject, Dumbledore had been obliged to apply to the Board to get permission to hire him. After Lucius had spoken and reminded them of the reason Hagrid had been on probation in the first place, they'd apparently soundly denied the request.
Draco knew Hermione had felt some guilt about that, but he didn't care. She tended to have a soft heart. But Hagrid was the last person Draco wanted standing between himself and a dangerous creature, because he didn't seem to have a reasonable understanding of the word 'dangerous.'
As a first day treat the professor set them up to work with nifflers. Draco dutifully removed his signet ring and watched his niffler retrieve as much buried shiny junk as it could. His was one of the most successful, it was a fun lesson and Draco was happy it hadn't been a disappointment.
After dinner he waited for Hermione in their turret room as they had previously agreed to meet. He knew it might be a little while, she often had trouble getting away from Potter and Weasley, though he hoped it would be easier for her tonight. They didn't have so much homework that they'd demand her help with yet.
He hadn't been waiting long when she arrived. She didn't quite smile at him when she ducked into the room but he could tell that she was happy to see him. She unceremoniously dropped her bag from her shoulder and fell onto the sofa next to him, automatically molding herself into his side.
"Hey," she muttered, stifling a yawn.
"You didn't sleep well?" he worried.
He wrapped his arm around her and something in his chest unfurled. She wriggled around trying to get comfortable, huffed in exasperation and jumped back to her feet. He watched her with amusement and a little bit of concern as she irritably shucked her outer robes and then grabbed the soft royal blue blanket his mother had sent along with them after the last Christmas holidays, and draped it over them after she'd flopped back down on the sofa. She arranged herself against his side, he put his arm back around her.
"Sorry, I'm restless."
He chuckled, "yeah, obviously," he drawled, "did you not sleep well?" he repeated.
He felt her shrug.
"I had a lot to think about."
"But you're okay, right?"
"I'm good."
"The dementor?"
"Actually, there's this boy…"
"Oh?" he questioned vaguely, wondering where she was going with this and mildly worried.
"Parvati says he's dreamy," she sighed rather dreamily, it was very uncharacteristic, "he grew over the summer and got a haircut, it's all they could talk about."
There was a heavy feeling of dread in his stomach.
"And what did you say?" he had to know.
"That he might be nice enough to look at if he wasn't such an unimaginable prat."
He just sat there blinking at her, not knowing what to make of that.
She grinned and shoved him playfully, "I'm talking about you, you goof," then she ducked her head, "and I quite like looking at you, but I couldn't very well tell them that. But I am not calling you dreamy."
He could feel himself grinning, "you're telling me your roommates have a thing for me?"
She nodded, "for at least a year now, but don't let it go to your head," she poked him for emphasis.
He grabbed the offending hand, "is that what kept you up, you're worried Lavender Brown or one of her ilk is going to steal me away?" he teased.
She shook her head, "I hope you have better taste than that, and anyway, I know you wouldn't do that to me," she finished more quietly.
She was right. He'd rather stab himself in the heart than hurt Hermione by getting involved with one of her roommates who were vapid and often cruel to her. He was beginning to think he'd never want anybody but her anyway.
"So, what about me kept you up?" he pressed teasingly, he was extremely curious but he was trying to keep things light.
She bit her lip and began toying with the fastenings of his robes.
"Whatever it is, you can tell me," he said seriously.
There was a long beat of silence, the only sound in the room the crackling of the fire. She continued to fidget until she finally turned her face up to look at him, she was blushing but she also appeared determined.
"Don't you see? They all want you, but I'm the one you asked for a kiss. It made me feel special, I was excited," she was getting more and more red as she spoke, "is this weird? I mean you're my best friend, so you're the one I'd normally talk to about stuff like this, but we're talking about you. I mean I'm glad it's you, that you're my best friend and now more than that-" he could tell she was rapidly spiraling out of control, usually when she got like this he would hug her, she was a very tactile person and always responded well to physical affection, so he thought he would try something new.
He ducked his head and brought his lips to hers firmly, cupping her cheek, with one hand. She inhaled sharply through her nose in surprise, but she didn't resist and then he felt her place in hand on her shoulder and the other went tunneling through his hair.
It was nice, her lips were soft, she smelled good, as always, and he liked how intimate it felt, liked the possessive way she held onto him, and that he knew she'd never been this close to anybody else. He wasn't ready to turn this into a full on snog, but he pulled back and then gave her one more sweet peck before pulling away completely.
She stared at him for a few moments, and then she licked her lips and started to smile.
"I liked that," she confessed huskily.
"Me too," he said, licking his own lips, he could swear he tasted her there, "and just for the record, you are special and you can talk to me about anything."
She nodded, "okay, and, um, you could do that again sometime if you wanted."
He smiled, "I think I'll take you up on that offer...sometime."
He gathered her even more closely against him and she placed her head on his shoulder and they spent the time until curfew just sitting quietly together enjoying each other's company.
Three days later was their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class and Draco was quite interested to see how it would go. He'd seen the professor in the Great Hall, of course, and around the castle as well. Hermione had described him as looking to be "down on his luck." He would have been more likely to say that the man appeared to belong on a street corner rather than their school, but he'd also saved Hermione's life, so he'd reserve judgement...for now.
He was pleased when Professor Lupin told them to put their books away; that they'd be having a practical lesson. He had learned a great deal from his parents about the Dark Arts, and defending himself against them using practical methods. And he was feeling optimistic about their chances of actually having gotten a competent professor as the man led them into the teacher's lounge. But then he got a look at the wardrobe that housed the subject of their lesson and began to panic.
He barely heard the professor's exchange with his Head of House, who had been sitting in the lounge, and he tuned out Lupin's lesson about boggarts. He already knew, very well, what was inside of that wardrobe. He noticed some of the other students- his fellow purebloods and some of the half bloods- looked similarly nervous.
This would have been bad enough, just a week before when he'd thought his worst fear was of snakes due to a childhood run-in with a garden snake. Given his house loyalties that would have been humiliating. But now he knew better. The moment Hermione had confessed to him that she'd seen him when faced with a dementor, he knew that his worst fear had also changed. Nothing would be worse than losing Hermione.
As humiliating as it would be to reveal something so personal in front of all of his classmates, that was nothing in comparison to how much danger revealing their secret could put her in, and that was not to be born. He didn't care who thought him a coward.
"I'm not doing this," he declared suddenly.
Lupin turned to him calmly, "Mr. Malfoy, is it?" he asked.
"That's correct."
"If you refuse to participate in the lesson I will have no other choice but to give you detention."
"If you must, but I think it's a deplorable lesson, forcing us to reveal our worst fears in public. Would you like yours aired, sir? I didn't see you volunteering to get things started," he sneered, keeping his Malfoy facade firmly in place.
The air was thick with tension, it was rare for a student to openly defy a professor, and Slytherins rarely acted so boldly.
"Boggarts are part of every day life, Mr. Malfoy, it is my duty to teach you how to deal with the danger they present."
"You're to teach us how to defend ourselves against vampire and werewolf attacks too, are you going to cart one of them in here as well?"
The room exploded in whispered conversations and loud protests. Lupin blanched but he barely paid the man any attention.
"Detention Mr. Malfoy, for back talking a teacher."
He couldn't have cared less, he was too busy trying to catch Hermione's eye to communicate what he was doing. She could no sooner face a boggart in front of an audience than he could.
When he finally got her attention he could tell she was panicking as well, her eyes were wide and her breathing heavy. She kept stealing glances at the wardrobe where the boggart was trapped, and he knew she'd come to the same conclusion he had. He tried to reassure her with a confident expression. She gave him a slight nod and swallowed heavily. This would be difficult for her. Lockhart had been one thing, but it would be against her every instinct to defy a professor she'd already begun to respect.
"I agree with Malfoy," she said, her voice even as she determinedly looked away from Potter and Weasley who were glaring at her like she'd just committed murder, she attempted to smile, but Draco saw how brittle it was, "perhaps not in his manner of addressing you Professor, but that doesn't make him wrong. In theory I think this is a wonderful idea. But I just can't agree with having our fears exposed so publicly, we may be young, but that doesn't mean we haven't had traumatic things happen to us. There could be psychological damage to one student, or to us all should you proceed in this manner. If we're to do this at all it should be done in private."
He regarded her steadily.
"Very well Miss Granger, I shall just take volunteers then."
Draco stepped away immediately, as did the rest of the Slytherins. None of them, not even Crabbe or Goyle (and that was saying something) were stupid enough to give up such a tactical advantage for nothing.
Hermione also shifted to the side despite Potter's open mouthed incredulity, and Weasley's beet red rage. She paused only to murmur something to Longbottom who heaved an obvious sigh of relief and followed her out of the path of the boggart. She grasped his hand in support and for the first time he felt no jealousy over the affection she gave one of her friends.
Given what he knew about Longbottom he hadn't relished seeing his boggart. Lupin really should have considered this more carefully. As much as Hermione's objection had been personally motivated, she'd also made a really good point.
Draco had never thought Potter was the sharpest knife in the potions kit. But when he stood there, willingly facing a creature which would show him his worst fears, just days after experiencing the effect a dementor had on him, well he knew he was a bona fide moron. There was brave, and there was stupid, and Potter was apparently the latter.
It was over pretty quickly, with the professor stepping in front of Potter before he could take his turn (so he'd intended to protect Potter but none of the rest of them?) He stormed out of the room the moment they were dismissed.
She ran past him a minute later, obviously upset and unencumbered by any other Gryffindors. She brushed his arm as she went by but that was it. He wished he could offer her more comfort.
And He was shocked when a hand reached out and hauled him into an alcove. It was a place he'd met Hermione several times before, but not in nearly a year. She looked around to make sure they were alone and when she determined that they were, looped her arms around his neck.
"Thank you for the warning, that could have been bad."
"We have to be so careful," he muttered, pulling her closer; it was beginning to feel like an impossible task, this secrecy.
She burrowed against him, wrapping her arms around him beneath his cloak, she was so close her lips brushed against his neck.
"I've been thinking about transferring schools after O.W.L. Year," he said tentatively.
"You mean when I can come with you?" she clarified.
"Yeah," he said sheepishly; the laws regarding muggleborns he'd been raised to appreciate now chafed like shackles.
There was a long pause and he hugged her closer.
"Let's talk to Lucius and Narcissa about the possibilities, after what just happened, well I'm not sure this is a good place for us, it may be dangerous to the point of foolishness."
He was happy to hear her concede that much.
"I won't go anywhere without you," he vowed.
"Me either," she swore.
They were just thirteen, and not really in any position to make that promise to each other, but it was all that they had. So, he just concentrated on the way she was playing with the hair at the base of his neck and was holding him like she never intended to let him go. He'd find a way to make it happen, with or without his parents.
"You're not mad at me for getting detention?" he asked suddenly.
She craned her neck to look him in the eyes, "you have a reputation to maintain, it would have been suspicious if you'd been polite. When your parents find out why you did it, they won't care."
"So you'll back me up to them?"
She chuckled, "yes, Draco, I'll help you stay out of trouble," she smirked at him and looked around, "I should go before somebody comes looking for me," she went up on her toes to kiss his cheek, "see you later."
He closed his eyes so he didn't have to watch her walk away from him.
Author's note: You guys. I gave you a 2,000 word interlude and you gave me nearly 100 reviews in less than a week, which also put this story over 500 reviews. And that's not to mention all the new faves and follows. I'm blown away. You are all so amazing thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm sorry to say I don't have another interlude or anything else waiting in the wings, I just did not anticipate this. So, I'm taking requests: interludes, prequel one-shots, out-takes, I'm open to any and all ideas and quite looking forward to seeing your suggestions. Thank you again!