Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Harry Potter! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates on the second and fourth Saturday of each month!
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Mr. Granger stared at Draco in disbelieving astonishment until Draco cleared his throat and spoke, "I'm certain that if you listen to my reasoning, sir, my outlandish statement will make perfect sense."
Mr. Granger raised an eyebrow and nodded as he sat back down.
He slowly gestured for Draco to take a seat in a nearby, tufted chair.
"...Please, then, Lord Malfoy, won't you enlighten me?" Mr. Granger asked, still clearly disturbed.
Draco politely sat down before he began to explain, "I'm not certain how familiar you are with the happenings of magical society, Mr. Granger, but a great evil by the name of Lord Voldemort is a powerful threat at this time."
"Lord Voldemort...the wizard?" Mr. Granger asked.
"Yes, sir, the wizard." Draco nodded, "So you do know about the inner workings of the magical world?"
"Only a little, just the tidbits that my daughter has told me." Mr. Granger replied.
"Ah." Draco sighed, "Then perhaps your daughter has mentioned the crimes that Lord Voldemort is capable of and the atrocities that have been committed under his orders?"
Mr. Granger glanced at the floor and thought for a minute before he looked up at Draco and nodded, "Yes…….She's spoken before about several unfortunate 'attacks'...on the wizard's enemies."
As Mr. Granger spoke, Draco could see the fear in the older man's brown eyes.
"Mr. Granger, Lord Voldemort's 'enemies' are any non-magical person or any magical persons with non-magical ancestry." Draco explained.
"Are you saying that my daughter's a target of this…..this 'Lord Voldemort'?" Mr. Granger asked Draco with narrowed eyes.
"Your entire household is a target, sir." Draco bluntly replied, "My family serves Lord Voldemort so I know this to be true. In three days, they'll come, slaughter you all like animals, burn this mansion to the ground, and wipe the Granger name from the earth."
As Draco expected, Mr. Granger was horrified by that news.
Draco watched Mr. Granger's mouth fall open and his dark eyes widen.
He visibly trembled as he fidgeted awkwardly with the tweed buttons on his waistcoat.
"Why should I believe such a ridiculous claim?" Mr. Granger asked Draco with a new gruffness in his voice.
"I haven't any hard proof to present to you, sir." Draco said with an honest shrug, "I've only come to warn you and to offer you, and your family, a means of escape. I've risked my very life by doing so, surely that counts for something?"
Draco watched as a sheen of clammy sweat broke out across Mr. Granger's forehead before he sniffed and continued, "If your family serves this…..nightmarish regime…..then how can we trust you? Why would you go out of your way to help us?"
"As I said, sir," Draco nodded, "I wish to win your daughter's heart and her hand. I am the heir to house Malfoy and house Black. My family is incredibly wealthy and of fine social standing, I can provide her with a very comfortable life."
"How do you intend to do that, Lord Malfoy?" Mr. Granger pressed, "Surely this…...Lord Voldemort…….won't allow such a union given my daughter's heritage?"
"I believe that his arrogance will be his downfall, sir." Draco said, speaking with a wisdom beyond his years as he nodded and added, "Are not all tyrants ejected from their thrones sooner or later? When that day comes, it will be my greatest wish to have your daughter by my side."
"And what if that day fails to arrive, Lord Malfoy?" Mr. Granger questioned.
"I plan to do everything possible to see that it does." Draco replied with a bitter smile, "I'll be waiting for it until my last hours in this world."
Mr. Granger stared at Draco for a long, tense moment before Draco asked him boldly, "Mr. Granger? Are you willing to accept my help or not?"
Mr. Granger paused to consider his options and finally, with great reluctance, he sighed and nodded at Draco as he replied, "...Yes."
"Very well, then." Draco answered, "May I see your daughter, sir?"
"I hardly think that's appropriate!" Mr. Granger scoffed.
"Well, if you would like my plan for your family's escape to succeed, I'm afraid that I need to leave something very important in her care." Draco explained.
Mr. Granger sniffed and after he eyed Draco with a disapproving scowl, he waved his hand and said, "Very well, Lord Malfoy, but I'm sending my maid to watch you two. Only a fool would leave an eager suitor alone with his unmarried daughter."
"...Of course, sir." Draco replied with a respectful nod.
Mr. Granger rang a small bell and a very short while later, a black-haired maid appeared in the parlor doorway.
As Draco followed the woman while she escorted him towards Lady Granger, Draco couldn't help but lament the fact that her father was not, in fact, a fool.
What private moments could Draco have stolen that morning with Lady Granger if her father had not been as shrewd?
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Draco's heart tightened in his chest when the black-haired maid came to a stop outside of a closed door at the end of one of the mansion's long hallways.
The maid lifted her hand and knocked on the heavy wood until a delightful voice called out from inside, "...Yes?"
"Miss Granger?" The maid asked, "Are you awake?"
"Oh yes!" The pleasant voice answered from the other side of the door, "You can come in, Mathilda."
"My lady, I've brought a gentleman caller for you, with your father's permission" Mathilda, the Granger maid, informed her mistress. Mathilda glanced over at Draco warily and he whispered his name to her so that she could announce, "A Lord Draco Malfoy……"
"Lord Malfoy?!" The voice from inside the room called excitedly.
"Yes, Miss Granger." The maid confirmed.
"Clarissa's already dressed me, Mathilda." That darling voice revealed from the other side of the door, "You both may come in."
Mathilda looked at Draco for a questioning second before she opened the door.
As Draco followed the maid into the room, the stress and tension fell away from his face when he found Lady Granger, sitting in an opulent, velvet chair close to the large windows of her elegant bedroom.
The omega was every bit as lovely as Draco remembered, but he had to admit, the daylight made her stunning beauty seem almost unnatural to him.
Draco stepped into Lady Granger's graceful bedchamber, but he remained a respectful distance away as she eyed him closely.
Draco tried not to stare, but he found it was a real struggle not to let his mouth fall open as he watched Lady Granger start to rise from her seat so she could greet him.
The light that streamed through the massive windows behind her illuminated every shimmering shade in her chestnut-colored hair, which held a dazzling array of gold and brown shades.
Draco felt himself sinking into the comforting pools of shimmering, fresh coffee that Lady Granger's chocolate brown eyes strongly reminded him of, and her figure…….her figure was as lithe and as pleasantly shapely as he remembered.
The gossamer gown of white and blue in which she was dressed flowed around her in an elegant cloud of coquettish concealment while she walked towards him.
"Good morning, Lady Granger." Draco said with a polite nod as she stood in front of him.
"Good morning, Lord Malfoy." Hermione replied with a very proper curtsey while Mathilda scowled at them both as she stood several paces behind them, obeying her employer's orders to watch the two, young, would-be lovers with the scrutiny of a hawk.
"What a surprise it is to see you again!" Lady Granger exclaimed to her visitor as she smiled brightly.
Draco felt like his heart was being squeezed inside his ribs as he thought of how she would soon hear news that would wipe that flawless smile off of her ethereal face.
"I do apologize if I've caused you any inconvenience this morning, Lady Granger." Draco said with another nod, "I've just spoken with your father and he agreed that I may leave something in your keeping."
"Oh?" Lady Granger asked with a look of anxious curiosity.
Hermione would be lying if she said that she wasn't disappointed.
As mad as the notion seemed, excitement had risen in her when the handsome alpha had mentioned that he'd come to speak with her father, but……..Lady Granger quickly quelled her whimful ideas.
She had barely met Lord Malfoy, how ridiculous was it to assume that he had come to ask permission to court her?
As Draco gazed at Lady Granger, the pout on her lips lulled him into a dangerous trance.
For a moment, Draco forgot where he was or what exactly he had come to do.
Unconsciously, he leaned in ever so slightly to bring himself just close enough that he could detect a faint hint of the delicious omega's pleasant, soothing scent of pure sweetness.
The scent that-
"Lord Malfoy?" Lady Granger asked.
"Yes? Sorry, I do apologize." Draco mumbled as he cleared his throat and tried to recover from his embarrassing mishap.
Lady Granger smiled coyly as she began to realize the effect that she had on the alpha.
An embarrassed, demure blush pinkened Hermione's cheeks.
"That's alright." Lady Granger replied quickly. Seeing that the conversation once again held Draco's attention she inquired, "May I ask what it is that you've brought?"
"Of course." Draco answered with a nod.
His grey eyes held Lady Granger's amber gaze as he reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a red, velvet box.
Draco watched the joy spread over Lady Granger's face as he opened the velvet box and revealed a necklace, complete with a silver chain, and a large, gleaming, emerald pendant.
"Lord Malfoy!" Lady Granger exclaimed, "How generous of you! I….I can't accept such a gift, we hardly know each other!"
"Please, Lady Granger." Draco insisted as he sat the box down on a nearby table and carefully removed the necklace, "I've already received your father's consent to present you with this trinket. Will you speak against him now in refusal?"
"No, no, not at all." Lady Granger replied as Draco held the necklace out to her.
The mischievous look in her brown gaze sent burning embers of scorching desire rippling through him, all the way to his loins as Lady Granger turned around, swept her mass of splendid hair to one side and nodded to him over her shoulder as she spoke, "I'll allow you to assist me, Lord Malfoy. Surely you don't expect me to see behind myself?"
Draco glanced over nervously at Mathilda and although the maid scowled at him, she made no protest as he stepped forward.
Draco unclasped the necklace and moved so near to Lady Granger that the scent of her skin hit him squarely in the face as he gently draped the chain around her elegant neck and skillfully fastened it.
While he did, Draco wondered if her heart was beating as quickly as his.
If he could have made it believable, he would have feigned fumbling with the clasp for a moment or two, just to stand there and breathe in Lady Granger's delightful scent~.
Once the pendant hung above her breasts, Draco stepped back and let Lady Granger admire her new accessory.
"It's beautiful!" She exclaimed to Draco as she glanced up at him, "Thank you, Lord Malfoy!"
Draco nodded at her and tried not to become swallowed by his own desires again as he replied, "There's a hidden button in the center that only a wand can access. In three days' time, you'll need it very much, but please, don't do so before then."
"What happens in three days?" Lady Granger asked with a curious frown.
As the beautiful omega stood there in front of him, in her elegant room, living comfortably in her splendid dress, Draco did not have the courage to shatter her world.
"Good day, Lady Granger." He replied with a formal nod before he turned on his heel and walked out of her room.
"Lord Malfoy, wait!" Lady Granger called after him, "Lord Malfoy!"
Draco was halfway down the hall when Hermione went to chase after him, but Mathilda barred her from leaving the room.
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Moments later, as Draco's carriage thundered down the road, headed away from the Granger estate and back towards Malfoy manor, he stared out of the vehicle's window and sighed to himself.
The sun was shining so brightly that it was almost rude and as Draco watched the dew glisten on the grass while his carriage traveled along, he scowled.
It was offensive, really, the irony of that peaceful morning.