Chapter 19 – A ring and a locket

Hermione grabbed some Floo Powder and thanked McGonagall in silence for connecting her fireplace without any questions asked. The spinning filled her with nausea after using this methode of travel for the first time in years. When it finally stopped she needed a second to find her footing.

Draco waited for her in a sitting room. It was a small room considering the sheer size of the whole Manor, yet it would have been able to hold a whole party, if one intended to.

There were some comfy chairs arranged around the fireplace, which made it unlikely for this to be the normal room visitors would enter through. Still it was the room Hermione found herself in after leaving the Floo.

They stared at each other for a few moments, until Hermione cleared her throat and looked around, unsure.

"This is a nice room. Not what I expected."

"I didn't think you would want to see that room again. I'm not a complete asshole. I changed the Floo connection for today." Draco answered her question with a drawl and pointed at a chair for her to settle. She nodded her agreement and handed the bottle in her hand over to him with a smile.

"Didn't you fight for the rights of house elves for years Granger?" Draco commented her choice of wine but got two glasses from a nearby cabinet and poured them both.

"They get paid if I buy one, so it's fair, isn't it ?" was Hermione's dry answer. She remembered S.P.E.W. and it made her smile thinking about it, but with years of war between now and then it wasn't something she had her mind set on like she had back in school. Anyway it was good to know that she had continued her efforts in a world without war, though. She would have to look it up and see if she could still take care of that part of this Hermione's life. Sipping from the glass Draco handed her, she smiled at his big gulp, knowing it wasn't ordinary wine as he thought.

She looked around the room, noticing it was a private part of the Mansion. There were a few things to show off and it had a snug vintage feel to it with the dark wood and a few silver and green accents.

Draco's fixed his blank stare on the ring on her hand, just like a few weeks before. He had talked himself into believing it hadn't been real, but now he saw it again on her finger. The same ring that was buried with his wife in a tomb not far away from the Manor. He took a large slug before addressing Hermione again.

„So how did that happen? Me marrying you? I can't phantom how we should grow to stand each other, let alone have sex." he asked after putting the glass down. She inclined her head thinking about her answer. Her finger tapped against the handle in a steady rhythm, producing a clicking when the ring met the glass. Even with the potion in her system she still felt nervous.

„I didn't marry you. I married him and I did it because I loved him. He was my best friend long before we married Malfoy."

„And Weasel?" he was curious and the wine made it easier to be daring. For him Hermione had always been off-limits. First because his father would have killed him, then because he loved his wife and now because she was married.

„Dead. Not that he was sad about that. He called him a dunderhead often enough when he was still alive. Picked that up from Severus I guess. Aquila, too, loved that word." not the full truth, but Hermione knew she had shifted his focus by mentioning their daughter. They both knew the whole meeting was only about their daughter. For him it was the scepsis and maybe a longing for more than his solitude life. For her it was a strong believe she could have some kind of connection to him and she needed him for her plan. Her nightmares kept her awake most nights and she had to use glamours whenever she left her room. She had rarely eaten or slept since she had decided on the road she was about to walk down, her main focus on studying for her DADA Master to keep her thoughts from wandering.

She knew something was off and so Hermione had tried to find a solution. After some research she had bought some books on PTSD in muggle London confirming her hunch. Therapy was highly recommended, just like talking about it. One of the doctors also wrote about trying to find a solution by exposing oneself to the same situations. It was a shock treatment he only recommended for smaller cases of PTSD and never without supervision. Hermione knew the path she had chosen wasn't what the doctor had in mind, but for now it looked like the best choice to make. Her mind tried to drift into chaos whenever she wasn't on high altered and with the bit of sleep she got it wasn't getting easier.

At least she was able to eat again since she had decided to meet up with Draco. Her appetite was finally big enough to gain some weight back to have a womanly body again. She had hated to look at the skeleton she had become in the mirror. Back in their hideout there hadn't been any mirrors or time to worry about petty things like appearance. Life was about survival and the wellbeing of her children.

„Hard to believe I had a daughter with you." Draco interrupted her mussing.

She sighed, he finally voiced his doubt. He had never been a trusting man, something that hadn't changed. Since she came here she noticed that a lot of things were simply a persons character and others were based on circumstances.

„If you ever tell a soul I showed this to you before anyone else I will make sure you regret it. You know I can." She let the threat hang in the air and smiled when she saw his realisation that she would stay true to it. Maybe he did remember the last time she had punched him.
She opened the locket that hung around her neck and showed it to him after hesitating for a few moments. He noticed she didn't look at it herself.

There were two pictures inside. One of him and Scorpius standing on either side of a seated Hermione. In the picture he smiled at his son first and then down at Hermione. His smile changed slightly at that point. Nothing he would have picked up if it hadn't been himself. He looked at her like he often saw couples deeply in love look at each other. It was disturbing. He frowned and noticed that while he was able to tell it was him, he looked different. Less arrogant, older and worn out. From what she had told them, and based on Scorpius' age in the picture, he couldn't have been much older than thirty when it was taken.

The second picture was the one that left him speechless. There was a small girl sitting on Hermione's lap. She giggled at something that Scorpius next to her said. Now it was Hermione that looked old beyond her years and worn out. She still smiled at the little girl, but it wasn't as big as the one he had seen in the first picture. More of a small sincere smile that took a lot of energy to produce.

„So back to my first question. How did I come to marry you Granger?" he asked in a raspy voice after clearing the throat. The woman opposite of him got up from her chair and walked over to him, sitting down on his armrest.

Finally we are here.