Chapter 6
The day after Ginny's so-called retail therapy, Hermione found herself back in the Ministry's halls, walking towards Blaise's office once again. She paused to smile at Ashley as Hermione passed her desk, yet she received no acknowledgement whatsoever. Odd.
Finally coming to a halt outside of Blaise's door, she took a moment to collect herself before knocking. Taking a deep breath, she knocked twice, pushing open the door at the muffled words 'come in.'
"Good morning, Hermione," Blaise said warmly. Malfoy inclined his head towards her, and she nodded towards both. "I hope you had a restful day, yesterday."
"I did, thanks," Hermione smiled. "Shall we discuss scientific advisors?"
"Yes, that would be perfect," Blaise grinned. "Draco, have any suggestions?"
Draco arched an eyebrow. "In particular, no. I have not worked with many scientific advisors, and have little to comment on the matter."
Blaise eyed him carefully, noting how he had still managed to suggest a legal consult, despite working little in the legal field. "All right… any ideas, Hermione?"
"A few - in my St. Mungo's prosecution, I met with some very talented individuals-" Hermione began, to be cut off by Draco.
"We don't need talent, we need investigators," Draco interrupted quickly. "Someone who can quickly evaluate the data presented and see the holes in their experiments."
Hermione, though annoyed at Draco's interruption, nodded her head in agreement. "I agree. My question to you both, then, is if you would rather have someone who understands the science enough, but can communicate and negotiate extremely well, or someone who will find every last hole in their experiment, but may be hard to… soften their edges when presenting to the politicians both in Italy and back home?"
Blaise considered this thoughtfully, leaning back into his chair. "Is it possible for us to understand this… rougher person, and would they allow us to communicate their findings? I assume you have at least two people in particular in mind."
"I admit it is more frustrating to deal with the person who knows her science better, but I found in the lawsuit that her particular eye and focus on these things proved invaluable to the case," Hermione nodded.
"What would you recommend, Granger?" Draco asked suddenly. "You know them best, and we trust your judgement."
Hermione was taken aback by Malfoy's sudden display of respect and faith. "W-well," Hermione stuttered, getting used to the idea that Malfoy actually wanted to hear her opinion. "In that case, I would suggest Antha Filix. Although she's a little harder to work with, no one can deny her intelligence and ability to consider every potential angle. She'll save lives with her thorough attention to detail, and arguably time and or disasters that could potentially come up."
"And the other advisor?" Blaise asked.
"Isidore Gaufroi is one of St. Mungo's now estranged administrators, in light of the lawsuit," Hermione informed the two Slytherins. "After seeing the corruption in the research side of Mungo's, she decided that it wasn't the place for her anymore. I know she's been working as a member of the board of directors for some other biomagic startup, so she's comfortable with the politics involved with negotiating as well as the science. However, she will not peruse the data with as fine-toothed a comb as Antha."
Blaise nodded thoughtfully, turning to Draco. "Antha?" Blaise asked.
Draco nodded. "Shall we propose at least one more person before giving the Minister all three names? In the instance that Ms. Filix is not interested."
Hermione nodded in agreement. "I don't have any other suggestions unfortunately, but it would be good to have at least one more backup."
Blaise tapped his chin, before smiling. "I believe Siwa Rudawski, who is the head of research in the Polish Council of Wizards, would be an interesting choice. She has recently relocated to Britain in her attempt to combine international scientific ideas. Clearly she is ambassador material, given that the Polish have chosen her to relocate."
"Excellent," Draco stated. "We'll proceed with those three names."
Blaise and Hermione nodded, and Blaise penned a letter to Kingsley before enchanting it to fly down the hallway.
"In the interim, we should discuss our move to Italy and our agenda there," Blaise noted. Hermione nodded, murmuring her assent.
"When are we moving into the villa?" Draco asked.
"Villa?" Hermione asked.
Draco raised an eyebrow, while Blaise frowned. "Have we forgotten to discuss living arrangements?" Blaise asked.
"This is the first I've heard of anything," Hermione responded. "So we'll be living in a villa?"
"Yes, what else?" Draco asked confusedly.
"Err… I would have thought a flat would do," Hermione shrugged. Draco sneered slightly, but didn't comment.
"I have relatives and property in Italy," Blaise clarified for Hermione's benefit. "We'll be in Pisa, on the coast a mere hour away from Florence where the Ministro congregates."
"Pisa? I've always wanted to go," Hermione smiled. "Do I need to pay you rent or-"
"Nonsense, it's covered by the Ministry," Blaise smiled. "Job expense, naturally. Otherwise, they'd be paying us significantly higher salaries."
Hermione shrugged, not knowing what real estate prices in magical Italy would be. She expected they'd be incredibly expensive, but her ambassador's salary was far higher compared to her Wizengamot Administration position, or Merlin forbid she glance back to her Care of Magical Creatures days.
"All right, so six months in Pisa, travelling to Florence as that's where our meetings will be," Hermione pulled out a small planner notebook from her bag and began scribbling down a few details. "The exact date of our international portkey departure?"
"June ninth." This time, it was Draco who answered.
"And the exact date of our international portkey return?"
"December twenty-first," Draco said boredly.
"Christmas shopping in Italy, then," Hermione smiled. Blaise returned her smile, while Draco's eyebrow twitched.
"It's too bad we're leaving before Christmas. It's certainly a sight to see," Blaise reminisced fondly.
"I'd like to actually talk about our roles and our agenda once we arrive," Draco cut in before Blaise could take a trip down memory lane.
"You're no fun," Blaise pouted.
"Just trying to do my job," Draco pointed out. "I have a meeting to attend in an hour, so if we need a plan of action, we should figure it out now."
"All right. What will our first order of business be with the Italian Ministro?" Hermione looked to Blaise.
"I expect the first few days will mainly be meeting with their representatives and getting settled in. Likely, there will be a celebration of sorts. Hermione," Blaise paused suddenly, turning to her as a thought occurred to him. "Have you… dealt… with the, er, one percent, recently?" Draco snorted.
"One percent? Income-wise?" Hermione asked, confused.
"Yes," Blaise answered.
"They're not my crowd, but I can manage," Hermione said honestly, realizing what he was getting at. "I've handled my fair share of snobs," Hermione said bluntly, glancing at Draco. Blaise didn't miss her look.
"Luckily, you won't have to worry about blood purity snobs," Blaise said quietly.
"Really?" Hermione asked. Draco inclined an eyebrow - this was news to him, as well.
"Well, you see, the current most powerful famiglia in the Italian wizarding world is the Medicis-"
"Wait," Hermione asked, flabbergasted. "Did you just say the Medicis?"
"Yes…" Blaise looked at her quizzically.
"The Medicis?"
"I believe that would fall under the asked and answered category," Draco drawled.
"The political dynasty that ruled Florence from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century?" Hermione couldn't believe her ears.
"How do you know so much about them?" Draco asked curiously.
"Because they're in every single muggle history textbook ever written about the Renaissance era!" Hermione gesticulated wildly. "They're muggle!"
It was Draco's turn to be taken aback. He turned to Blaise.
"Is this true?"
Blaise nodded. "This is why the Italian culture places little stock in blood purity. They're the most powerful famiglia of the modern age-"
"And of the past age-" Hermione said breathlessly.
"-and they trace their roots right back to the very muggles who learned, somehow, how to create muggleborn witches and wizards."
Draco and Hermione were shocked into silence.
"Excuse me?" Draco asked his friend, wondering if he had gone barking mad. Perhaps Blaise, during his travels across the world, had experimented with some substance that hadn't quite left his system…
"You heard me. The fall of the Medicis, as the muggles assume was due to a lack of proper male heirs and overall loss of muggle political power, was in reality when la famiglia made the final switch to the wizarding world," Blaise explained.
"But you don't just create muggleborns from muggles!" Hermione voiced Draco's thoughts exactly.
"The Medicis do," Blaise said solemnly.
"How?" Draco challenged.
"No one but the Medicis know," Blaise said heavily. "Why do you think they rose to power? Before the Medicis, the same blood status society we're barely getting rid of in Britain was ingrained in Italian culture as well. And then this new blood, this muggle 'filth,'" here Blaise looked apologetically at Hermione, hoping she'd understand he was speaking in their terms, not his, "waltzed right in with an entire family of wizards, ruthless with their lack of attachment to the wizarding world. They could care less about our traditions. Instead of starting at the bottom of the social totem pole, they simply took over everything."
Draco sat back in his chair. "And not a single word about how they induced magic in their non-magical relatives has ever been said?"
"Any Medici knows that once that secret is out, they will never have the same grip on Italy that they do now. How did they get so many allies so quickly? Recruit from muggles who have nothing to lose, but so much to gain should they become magical. Muggles who fall for that trap end up in eternal servitude, tricked into unbreakable vows among other older contractual magic. As muggles, that they could never have had any inkling about the bonding magic into which they are coerced. They tore society apart, throwing famiglias who had been at the tip top of the pyramid down to the darkest valleys that no famiglia could even hope to marry out of. The Medici brides are bound at least by an unbreakable vow that they will never breathe a word of it to anyone, not to mention the intensive screening process that a woman must go through in order to be deemed a potential match for any Medici member.
"There has only been one instance that I know of where word got to another family outside of the Medicis: the Scordatos. One of the women Scordatos ended up marrying a Medici in an attempt to find out the Medici trade secrets. She allowed her family to use legilimency on her mind after she learned almost everything about the Medicis to avoid a violation of her Unbreakable Vow, since she never verbally spoke of their secrets. Supposedly, she was willing to sacrifice herself for her family's benefit even if the Medicis were to find out…" Blaise shook his head. "And yet, the day after, the Medicis found out, naturally. Ironically enough, her own life was the least of her worries. She was tortured within an inch of her life, that much can be said. But she was left alive. The rest of the Scordatos were found dead the next morning."
Hermione had covered her gaping mouth, trying to maintain her composure when all she wanted to do was sob for the victims of the Medicis' ruthlessness. Even Malfoy was having a difficult time not looking completely horrified.
"The secret died with them… and not a single wife of the Medicis has ever attempted such a feat again. From what I understand, if you are not a Medici son in the direct line of inheritance, you are no longer privy to the most secret information, as a result of that near success." Blaise sighed. "Italy is a very dangerous place to be, right now, if you aren't with the Medicis. I want you both to be aware of the political climate that we're getting into. We're there to represent Britain and see how legitimate this pharmamagical branch proposal really is. I don't trust the Medicis at all, but if this could help save lives, who are we to decline them?"
Hermione nodded slightly, still in a daze. Draco looked slightly paler than normal, but also nodded.
"So our agenda?" Blaise asked rhetorically as he circled back to the initial discussion. "The first few days will almost entirely be simply meeting the representatives involved, namely the Medicis and few other members of the Ministro in charge of international cooperation as well as the representatives from the company itself. Those first few nights, we're not going to be doing anything but research on their backgrounds. I want to know their entire family tree for the last three generations. I want to know how many scandals and rumors have been whispered about them, confirmed or not. I want to know who they're friends with, who they've backstabbed, and a full profile on every single person working in the Ministro and the company we'll be dealing with, regardless if they're a lowly janitor or an unimportant file organizer. Before we get to Italy, Hermione, you're going to re-familiarize yourself with every single British law we have. Draco, you're going to review the business laws with her, so that in negotiations, you can keep an eye mainly on that while she can focus on the health aspects of their clinical trials and experimentation. When we get there, Hermione, you're going to review every single Italian law out there, and Draco, again focusing on the business laws as well as their financials. I want to know every angle of their business, what they stand to gain, what they stand to lose, how profitable this really could be. I want you, Draco, to also focus in past business dealings that Italy has successfully made with other countries so we know what to expect and what is reasonable for them to demand. Hermione will work on the science side until our advisor comes. But you two are not to make any deals of any kind, is that clear? You are to provide me the whole myriad of information you have gathered to the best of your ability, and we will make group decisions together. But I speak for the group. This is solely for your safety. The more of an assistant role you play, the less likely they'll go after you," Blaise emphasized, breathing heavily from his rant.
Malfoy nodded. "Thank you, Blaise," Malfoy said, and Hermione was taken aback by the pure gratitude in his voice.
"I appreciate you looking out for us," Hermione nodded in agreement.
Blaise nodded stiffly, before, handing both Malfoy and Hermione a thick manilla folder each. "There's all of the information I have on the proposed deal so far. Familiarize yourselves with everything they've given us so far: estimates of profits, the products they'd like to sell in Britain, plans for purchasing a few smaller British companies so they can establish themselves on British soil, experimental data, licensing demands, intellectual property, taxes, the whole works. Draco and Hermione, you'll likely want to meet at some point in the next week to go over the British laws and Italian if you have time. Otherwise, we won't have to meet until the day before the portkey leaves for last minute debriefing and summaries. Are we good?"
Hermione looked uneasily at Malfoy at the mention of meeting privately, but nodded.
"Good. I'll see you in approximately two weeks. If either of you have any questions before then, I'm merely an owl or floo call away. I'll let you know if Kingsley hears back from any of our scientific consultants," Blaise concluded, dismissing them.
Blaise pulled Draco aside for a short minute, holding another manilla folder and pressing it into Draco's arms.
"I ran across them again and thought you should know," Blaise whispered lowly, before turning away to go back to his desk. Draco's eyes widened as he peered at the file's contents, and he looked up at Blaise, who was studying his reaction. Draco straightened his back and nodded his thanks to Blaise before departing the room.
Hermione packed her notebooks away before exiting Blaise's office, only to find Malfoy waiting for her in the hallway.
"What days are you available, Granger?" he asked calmly.
"Almost any day, but seeing as today is Tuesday and I'll need at least the rest of this week to review every British and Italian law out there, why don't we touch base next Monday and go from there?" Hermione suggested.
Malfoy shook his head. "No good - I've got a meeting with a new potential client that day and it will take up all of my time. Next Tuesday?"
"Should work. Time?"
"Afternoon. I'll have my assistant contact you," Malfoy nodded.
"I look forward to it," Hermione smiled. Malfoy nodded once before turning on his heel abruptly and walking away. Hermione shrugged. They weren't making much progress, but it was a start.
Draco sighed, rolling his neck and shoulders back as he stood at the apparition point just in front of the Manor gates. It had been months since he had last set foot in this place, and he had intended to keep it that way. Alas, more pressing, and frustrating issues required his presence in his old family estate.
Draco walked through the gates, the familiar shiver of the wards recognizing and accepting the Malfoy heir passed over him, and he still to this day could not suppress the shudder that went through him. It was almost as though the estate was tracking him, watching every move when he was inside it. Draco shrugged off the feeling as he walked up the long gravel drive, taking his time in order to put off entering his old home.
Home. What a bitter, hate-filled memory that word evoked.
Finally reaching the large double doors, Draco inhaled sharply as he pushed the heavy ebony entrance open, revealing the pure white marble foyer and grand staircase as a large, twinkling crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, now cushioned with holding and suspension charms to prevent a repeat of the skirmish that nearly killed Aunt Bella during the war. It appeared that his mother had been redecorating.
"Namnee!" Draco called. A small house elf appeared, her bulging blue eyes lighting up when she saw her master.
"Young Master is home!" Namnee clapped with glee. "Namnee finds Mistress Malfoy?"
"Just tell me where Mother is."
"Mistress is receiving future Malfoy in-laws in the green sitting room. Namnee is so happy Young Master is home!"
"It's good to see you, Namnee," Draco smiled fondly at the elf. Namnee had essentially been his surrogate mother when Narcissa Malfoy was too busy to watch him as a child. "That's all right Namnee, I'll find the sitting room myself, thank you."
"Namnee is serving the Young Master whenever he pleases," Namnee smiled before snapping her fingers away.
Draco made his way towards the sitting room, pulling out a few files from his briefcase. Without knocking, he burst into the room, his face carefully blank as he interrupted all conversation between Narcissa Malfoy and Astoria, Genevieve, and Oberon Greengrass.
"Draco, dear!" Narcissa smiled tightly, her eyes betraying her anger. "I'm surprised that you're finally visiting your poor mother. You must have something very important to say to rudely barge in here without knocking like a common derelict," Narcissa said lightly, though the thinly veiled threat was obvious to Draco.
"I'm sure he does," Genevieve returned jovially, turning to face her future son-in-law. "Draco?" Genevieve prompted.
Draco carelessly tossed a set of files towards Mrs. Greengrass, refusing to help when the contents of the files hit her lap at an awkward angle and spilled out across the floor. The room suddenly took a collective gasp as everyone saw the contents of the file.
"I believe the negotiations for this courtship are over," Draco said stiffly. "Mrs. and Mr. Greengrass, you may escort your disgrace of a daughter and yourselves out of my mother's home."
Astoria was frozen, gaping at the magical photos of her sloppily snogging with Terence Higgs, her normally crisp button down shirt and pencil skirt so askew that her bright red lingerie was further revealed in each subsequent photo.
"Surely there's a reasonable explanation for this…" Genevieve Greengrass began, panicking that her daughter's security in a well-matched marriage was slipping out of their grasp. Narcissa Malfoy had already switched expressions from welcoming to perfected contempt. She sniffed as she looked down her nose at the filth that had somehow crawled into her home.
"You had me followed?" Astoria shrieked, finally getting over her initial paralyzation.
"No need to," Draco sneered. "Merely a good samaritan third party who was looking out for my wellbeing. They… came across… the situation, and thought to alert me. They were rewarded handsomely."
"They had no right to invade my privacy in such a crass-" Astoria screamed shrilly, until her father cut her off.
"Crass?" Oberon Greengrass growled. "Haven't you done enough damage already, you stupid girl? Apologize to Mr. Malfoy and his mother, and we won't inflict your presence on them any longer," he snapped.
Astoria's face screwed up nastily, and she choked out a horribly half-hearted apology for disrespecting their trust and dishonoring their reputation before her father escorted her out of the room.
"I apologize profusely, Narcissa. I don't know what has gotten into her. Perhaps Daphne would be better suited-" Genevieve hurriedly spoke as she hung back from the rest of her family.
Narcissa Malfoy did not dignify her with a response. "Draco, darling, would you see to taking out the trash?"
"Of course, Mother," Draco sniffed, pulling Mrs. Greengrass away with a slightly painful amount of pressure on her arm.
"Narcissa, surely we can-" Genevieve stuttered until the doors to the sitting room slammed in her face. She turned to Draco. "Draco darling, you're almost like a son to me-"
"Mrs. Greengrass," Draco said tightly. "I believe our business is at an end." He steered her towards the fireplace, where Oberon and Astoria were heatedly whispering to each other, tears streaming down the younger Greengrass's face.
"But-" Genevieve grasped onto Draco's arm, and he shook her off.
"That means that you and your family," Draco spat out venomously, "can leave. Now."
"Come along, Genevieve," Oberon snapped as he forced a sobbing Astoria into the fireplace with a handful of floo powder. Genevieve obediently followed her husband and daughter.
"Draco, you know what it's like to have your freedom taken away from you! I just indulged myself one time before we signed our lives away-" Astoria sobbed hysterically.
"The third party I mentioned noted that you consistently met up with Terence Higgs on a weekly basis, hardly a one-off," Draco sneered. "I have nothing more to say to a despicable, cheating wretch," he sniffed, turning on his heel as Oberon slapped his daughter across the face and threw the floo powder down, enveloping the Greengrass family in green flames.
Draco sighed, pinching his nose as he made his way to his father's study. He pulled out a few ancient tomes with instructions on the Malfoy Manor wards, changing them so none of the Greengrass family members besides Daphne were allowed anywhere near his ancestral home. Once that was done, he returned to the sitting room, finding his mother in the exact same position as before. It was almost as if nothing had happened.
"Such dramatics," Narcissa sighed as she sipped a cup of tea. "Really Draco, you can be such a drama queen."
"I learned from the best," he smiled, and Narcissa laughed softly.
"I'm sorry dear, I had no idea that that Astoria girl was such a shameless strumpet. I suppose I should investigate these things more thoroughly, next-"
Draco cut his mother off. "There won't be a next time."
Narcissa stopped him with a sharp look, pointing out her displeasure at being interrupted. "You should know better than to cut me short, Draco."
"I'm sorry, Mother."
Narcissa raised an eyebrow before continuing. "What do you mean there won't be a next time? Surely you don't plan to swear off all women? Just because one happens to be a common hussy doesn't mean you can't find a perfectly eligible wife."
"I mean, Mother, that as much as I know you're well meaning, I'm not going to depend on you to arrange a marriage for me." Draco said softly. "We've gone through so many age-acceptable girls already, but you're limiting it to the pureblooded aristocracy. There's no one left."
"I can contact our family in France," Narcissa said dismissively. "Could find some with Veela heritage, actually."
"No, Mother… I think it's time to reevaluate our criteria," Draco proposed uneasily, unsure of how his mother would take it. She looked at him sadly.
"I know… I know," Narcissa sighed, setting down her tea. "I just… this is how I was raised, Draco. We are the nobility of our society, and in order to ensure our position, this has always been the recipe for our success. Halfbloods and mud-sorry, muggleborns," she said distastefully as she attempted to change her long ingrained habit. "They don't understand wizarding society as we do. They haven't had years of family history to preserve, wealth that needs careful management, or even a basic understanding of the traditions that kept us alive in the dark, witch-hunting ages. And though they claim that our traditions are old and outdated… they don't understand. Muggles have become very, very advanced, and they could wipe all of us out in a heartbeat if they discover the threat we pose to them."
Draco was taken aback by his mother's apparent familiarity with muggle technology, things he had barely begun to learn about from his limited discussions with muggleborns.
"It's a slippery slope," Narcissa continued. "The sooner it becomes acceptable for us to marry halfbloods and mud-ggleborns, the sooner it becomes acceptable for us to marry muggles. And the more muggles become aware of our world, the harder it is to keep it secret. And when the secret's out in the open…" Narcissa paused.
"It will be the extinction of our kind," she said heavily, emphasizing each word. She paused again, looking at Draco sadly.
"They'll experiment on us, find a way to control our magic. Enslave us - for they far, far outnumber us. Kill us all, for the threat that we pose. You understand now, why I cannot simply let go of blood purity? I don't care about the nonsense over muggleborns being less magically capable than purebloods, or any of the other lies that the radicalized pureblood society has spread to their offspring. It isn't that we're simply blood prejudiced for the sake of being prejudiced… it's just that many families have lost sight of the real reasons that blood purity exists. And the lies that were fed to their offspring perpetuate, until the muggleborns and halfbloods can point out how ridiculous and illogical pureblood reasoning is.
"I want the best for you, Draco, and for our society. And even if we're the last ones standing, I want to do what's right for our world. So please, Draco, let me contact our family in France, and see if we can't find someone who meets our existing criteria," Narcissa pleaded.
Draco's jaw clenched, nodding his head. Oh, what wouldn't Draco do for his mother?
"Good," Narcissa beamed, picking up her tea again and sipping at it softly.
AN: Sorry for the delayed update! I've almost caught up with my updates to the point where I'm posting chapters that I've just finished writing, so it's going to be a little slower based on my writing speed. Thanks as always to all of the reviews and follows/favorites!
I've always felt that having the books from Harry's perspective, we only ever see the purebloods as irrational bigots who have absolutely nonsensical beliefs. Which, from Harry's perspective, is totally valid. But I think it's time to explore the other side, no? What do you think about Narcissa's take on blood purity? Do you think Draco will agree to it, given now the logical reasoning behind it? And do you think Draco should agree?
We're also now just seeing a glimpse of the political climate in Italy, and it's not looking pretty. Thoughts on the Medici family? Any ideas as to how they manage to somehow induce magic in muggles? Let me know in a review!