Chapter 10: Elf-Sized Top Hats

He tucked himself back into his pants and cast a swift cleansing charm on her. "You look beautiful," he commented as he pressed a kiss against her cheek. She pushed him back. Her brows knitted in a scowl.

"Your Grace, It's Meryl. The Baby is coming." Hermione had never seen an elf, like the one who barrelled through the library doors, yelling. He had a top hat that was almost the same height as him and a robe with a ruff. She worried that perhaps she'd fallen, smashed her head, and was now trapped in some parallel universe.

Her wide eyes swivelled to Draco. "Why is there a clothed elf in your home throwing royal titles on your name?"

"Granger, keep an open mind!" he moved from her and over to the large French windows on the far side of the library. "Grab your bag and get on this broom with me." He said plainly, picking up what she had no doubt was the latest, most expensive piece of flying hardware available.

"NO!" She gathered up her bag, but not because he told her to.

"Darling, we cannot apparate there and walking will take 40 minutes at least." he chastised as if she hadn't just overheard that some woman called Meryl was giving birth in his house.

"Don't 'Darling' me!" she pulled the bag over her front, "You know I don't fly!"

He marched toward her, his face severe and commanding, "You are the brightest witch in existence, and your fears are holding you back." she hated how very much he got her. "I am an excellent Broomsman. You will be entirely safe." his tone became more gentle as his fingers found her chin "besides all that, I have a vested interest in you're continued prosperity." the air had gone thick again, her eyes locked on his and her stomach churned. She didn't see the adorned elf staring at the pair awkwardly.

"Who's Meryl?" she finally asked. She knew it sounded desperate and terribly girlish, but the question was screaming in a loop in her mind.

"She's an elf." he couldn't help the smirk that tugged at his lips.

She was about to tell him to fuck off when the enormity of what he said hit her. "You're breeding elves, Malfoy?" she'd have to report him. It didn't matter how skilled he was at sex. The ministry didn't take her future sexual gratification into account when prosecuting.

"No!" He looked affronted and wanted to argue further with her, but they had no time. "Granger, open mind, yes?" He grunted as he walked around her and lifted her from behind. She struggled as he strode towards the open window, writhing against his front and kicking her much smaller legs, but he kept her braced to his body with one strong arm. He grabbed his broom and slid it between her legs, and smirked at her gasp.

She hadn't wanted to gasp when he slotted the broom into place, but she was still so sensitive, and she, as previously stated, was clearly having some sort of sex-aura crisis. In a blink, he was running, and then they were flying, and she was screaming. She screamed until she had no air left. And then she stopped. They were gliding seamlessly over the Malfoy's bracken and wild estate. She was cold where he wasn't touching her and confused by her lack of actual panic. Shock, certainly. Annoyance, most definitely. But no fear, no panic. He kept his arm strong around her front, his other guiding the broom. She clutched her bag on her thighs as he took them toward a hill.

"Are you quite done screaming?" his lips brushed her ear.

"Where are we going, Malfoy?" he had no grounds for accusation. He'd flung her out a fucking window.

"It's easier if I explain," he huffed and drummed his fingers on her ribs. "Our problem started…" he began his tale.

"Our problem?" Hermione scoffed.

"Oh, you're very much involved in this Granger" he laughed and pressed a fond kiss to her neck.

"Stop that Malfoy!" she chastised.

"Our problem started last year when you gave that talk about house-elf reform." he continued.

"You were there?" she wanted to turn around and look at him. Even Ginny and Harry had skipped that particularly long and pious lecture she'd given.

"It was riveting, you said, 'now that we've defeated the Voldemort outside, we must face the Voldemort inside'…." His voice, repeating her words, words she'd worked so hard on, set her heart to flutter. "You talked about how you know what it feels like to be seen as less than by the wizarding world. You said 'house-elves have souls' and then you talked about Dobby…". To his horror, Draco's voice started to crack. He hadn't said his name out loud in so long.

Hermione felt tears sting in her eyes as her heart melted. Unthinkingly and instinctually, she released her double death grip on her bag and moved one of her paws to rest on the hand he had wrapped around her torso. "Draco," she soothed as she slid her fingers between his. He lifted his palm a little to allow her to curl her digits around his own. It was an intimate and entirely too familiar position for the pair but felt right nonetheless.

"about how brave he'd been…" he continued, "about how he'd defied his master to do the right thing, for love, for friendship. 'How can someone willing to die for his friends be called soulless.'" He quoted her once again. "needless to say, you had me all riled up." his voice returned to its usual jaunty level as he shook the darkness from his shoulders.

"well, I was wearing your favourite skirt." she joked and was rewarded with a chuckle against her shoulder and a squeeze of her fingers.

"I went to Diagon Alley and had a seamstress whip me up four of the fanciest elf-sized top hats she could deliver that day." He felt Hermione shake with laughter against him and tried to ignore how very nice it felt. "And that night, I presented them to the four House Elf staff we had left. As expected, they went mental and threatened to kill themselves if I gave them clothes."

"Oh dear." it was undoubtedly one of the most significant issues when it came to the discussion of elf freedom. They don't want it.

"They were screaming, where will we go, what will we do? I offered them pay, I said they could live with me as paid staff, but they were horrified by that notion. They said that taking gold to look after their family was shameful. They raised me, Granger, from birth… it's unthinkable for them…" he tried to explain.

"I know, it's complicated." she nodded along.

"Forcing gold upon them seemed senseless anyway as they all pointed out there's nowhere they can spend it. I told the elves that they were free and they could do anything they wanted, so they said they wanted to look after me for free and started cleaning again."

"You got outsmarted by some elves."

"Quite, So I thought, what would Granger Do?" he gave her a fond squeeze. "They didn't want gold, and just kicking them out into the wilderness seemed cruel. So I gave them land."

"You're letting them live on your land for free?" Most wizards gave up trying to free their house slaves when the crying started.

"No." his broom climbed up the steep hill bank, "I signed over 40 acres to the four house-elves I freed. They own it." he drew them to a halt at the peak of the hill and lowered them to the ground. Despite her feet being back on terra firma, her heart still pounded, his arm stayed wrapped around her, her fingers still clutched in his as she gazed down upon an immaculate and sprawling village. The houses were tiny, thatched and exceptionally well built.

"House-Elves have never owned land Draco." She managed to breathe. This was monumental. This was precedent-setting. This was madness.

"Welcome to another first, then Hermione," he whispered against her ear as his free hand indicated the domicile's below them. He unwrapped his arm from her but managed to flip his hand and recapture her fingers before she could slip away. They headed down a gentle slope to the valley inhabited by the elves.

"I thought you said there were only four elves?" she gaped as they walked through perfect fields of impressive-looking strawberries, which given the month was an almost impossibility.

"Ah yes, the rest of the story…" he squeezed her hand as he reached across her and grabbed her bag. "Let me." he offered.

"What are you doing?" she tugged at her hand in his grasp as they drew closer to the houses.

"It's you, me and the elves, Granger." he laughed "nobody can see." he smirked down and drew her closer "now stop distracting me." she snapped her jaw shut, the words bubbling on her tongue could be saved for later. She had information to gather. This was a flipping ministry inspection, after all.