Hey everyone, i'm soo sorry that i haven't updated for so long, but this miserable excuse for a machine that i call my computer decided to pitch a hissy fit and lost the latest chapters that i had written. Sooo very very peeved i had to write them again. this is the first one that i have finished and now am working on the next one which will be Hermione's shopping trip with Narcissa.
Wow over 200 reviews, i'm speechless that you all enjoy reading this story, i certainly love writing it!!
Thankyou to all my readers and reviewers, its your reviews that keep me going on this story when cantankerous computers tempt me to give up but i WILL finish this story as there is nothing that i hate more than incomplete stories!!
Sunday morning after breakfast, Draco gave Hermione a tour of the Manor. Saving the library till last, he smirked at her look of awe and delight as he opened the doors and revealed the room to her gaze.
"Oh Merlin Malfoy, this is bigger than the one at Hogwarts" Hermione whispered as she moved into the library and began to browse the shelves.
"Since you're staying here for Christmas and you always call me by name in front of mum and dad, it might just be easier for us to call each other by our first names" Draco commented offhandedly, though his stomach was tied up in knots. If she refused, then it would be obvious that she didn't want their closeness to extend beyond friendship. Hermione glanced at him and blushed slightly.
"Alright Draco" she murmured before returning to the book she now held in her hands. Summoning his courage, Draco prepared himself as much as possible for her reaction to his next words.
"Can I call you Mia? Or would you prefer that I called you Hermione?" he asked tentatively. Hermione raised her eyes from the book she was perusing and looked at him intently for a few seconds, before a blush rose to her cheeks and she smiled slightly.
"You can call me Mia if you like Draco" Draco smiled and his tense shoulders relaxed in relief. Hermione noticed him suddenly relax but decided against commenting about it, instead she returned to the book she was reading. Draco watched her for a few minutes before he turned and left the library. He needed advice, and the only person he could think of to help him, was his father.
Draco found his father in his study, knocking lightly on the door he poked his head into the room and waited for Lucius to acknowledge his presence. Lucius raised his head at the light knock and saw his son poke his head into the room.
"Dad, are you busy?"
"Not at all Draco, come in" Lucius replied. Draco walked into the study and closed the door behind him, before moving to one of the chairs in front of Lucius's desk and sitting down.
"You look troubled Draco" Lucius stated carefully. He was still new at this concerned parent thing and, even though he was delighted to finally be able to be the father he always wanted to be, he was still feeling his way through it.
"I need some advice" Draco replied quietly.
"Oh? What seems to be the problem?" Lucius asked, surprised and inwardly pleased that his son felt comfortable enough to come to him.
"I think that I have feelings for Hermione, but I'm not sure what they are" Lucius leaned back in his chair and scrutinized his son calmly for a moment.
"How can I help you?"
"How did you know that you wanted mum?" Draco asked.
"Wanted her?" Lucius asked, trying to clarify exactly what his son was asking him.
"Yes, wanted her for your own"
"Ah I see, you're confused as to whether your feelings for Hermione go beyond the friendship that the two of you now share, is that it?" Lucius replied, finally understanding what his son was asking. Draco nodded.
"Yes, I keep feeling things that, as a friend, I shouldn't be feeling" he explained to his father.
"I'm assuming that you mean that you feel attracted to her as a potential girlfriend" Lucius stated carefully.
"Well, yeah. I can't seem to get the memory of the kiss we shared out of my mind, even though it was only to shock me out of my fear, I still felt a jolt through my system when our lips touched. Then last night she kissed me on the cheek when she said goodnight, its crazy I know, but I almost felt like I was floating to my room after that. I know that Malfoy's aren't supposed to float and we are never indecisive, but I just can't seem to get my mind away from those two incidents" Lucius winced slightly as his son repeated the Malfoy family rules that he had drummed into him from an early age.
"Draco, would it help you to know that when I first met your mother, I was as lost as you feel now?" Lucius asked quietly. Draco's head snapped up and he stared at his father in shock, both at his confession and the knowledge that he had felt the same way.
"You did?"
"I did, and I didn't handle it nearly as well as you are now"
"But, you're always in control, you always know what to do and when to do it" Draco protested. Lucius shook his head in amusement at his son's protest.
"When I saw your mother for the first time I was literally struck speechless. Sev gave me quite a ribbing because it was the first time he had seen me lose my Malfoy mask, as he called it" Draco's eyes widened at the thought of his straight faced godfather teasing Lucius.
"Uncle Sev has a sense of humor?"
"Yes, he does, quite an uncanny one but he does indeed. He of course rarely uses it though, thank Merlin!" Lucius replied dryly. Draco remained silent and waited for his father to continue the story. "Your mother was sorted into Ravenclaw as you know, and I waited for the opportune time to make a good first impression"
"How long did you wait?" Draco asked eagerly, excited about hearing the story of his parents courtship.
"I decided that two weeks was enough time to come up with a smooth introduction and I had the whole thing planned to perfection. Unfortunately I didn't count on the fact that your mother is highly independent" Lucius commented wryly.
"What happened?"
"Well, being a Black, I assumed that Narcissa would have the same views on blood superiority as the rest of her family did, I was therefore surprised when she began to hang around with Sirius and the Marauders. By the time I decided to make my introduction, Narcissa had become close friends with Lily Evans"
"Potter's mum?"
"Yes, needless to say that when I strutted up to the two of them one morning and asked Narcissa if she would like the pleasure of joining me for a stroll around the lake, instead of having to suffer the company of a filthy 'mudblood' it didn't go well at all"
"Was it bad?" Draco asked, not really sure that he wanted to know what else his mother had done to his father other than break his nose.
"Oh it was humiliating" Lucius sighed, "She punched me and broke my nose then proceeded to inform me that she would much rather have the pleasure of the company of an intelligent muggleborn, than suffer the proximity of a snotty, rich, pureblooded prick whose face strongly resembled a hippogriff's arse, after which she stormed away, though she did throw a parting remark over her shoulder that if perhaps I cut my long hair the resemblance would lessen to a certain degree" Lucius finished awkwardly. Draco gaped at his father, unable to believe what his mother had said.
"That sounds like something Hermione would do" he finally commented. Lucius smirked slightly.
"Yes your mother did say that Hermione reminded her of herself"
"I can't believe that mum said something like that"
"Oh believe me, over the following months she said things a lot worse. I caught her under Dumbledore's enchanted mistletoe once, and after she finally freed herself from my arms, she hexed me so that my hair turned hot pink with bright purple stripes"
"She didn't!" Draco gasped.
"Oh she did, it took Sev nearly the rest of the Christmas holidays to brew the potion to counter act the hex she used"
"So if she kept humiliating you that way, then why did you keep pursuing her? How did you know that she was the one for you?" Draco asked, getting back to the original reason he had sought his father out.
"Because everytime I saw her she took my breath away. I would walk past her in the corridors and the smell of her shampoo would intoxicate me. If we accidentally touched, I felt like I had been shocked, and when we spoke, even when it was her telling me to 'sod off' my heart would feel like it was about to burst out of my chest" Lucius responded candidly, feeling more comfortable with expressing his feelings in front of his son. Draco nodded in understanding.
"That was why you advised me, that if I ever found a woman who would make my heart nearly burst from my chest and would challenge me mentally, that I should grab a hold of her with both hands and never let her go"
"Yes it is" Lucius affirmed. Draco's cheeks turned slightly pink as he thought of something.
"Dad, when…when you kissed mum under the mistletoe… did you feel a jolt of something… something that felt like you were complete?" he finally asked tentatively. Lucius smiled in understanding.
"Yes Draco, I felt like I was finally where I belonged, your mother admitted to me after we married that she felt the same thing, but that her hatred for the kind of person I was, wouldn't allow her to admit it at the time" Draco nodded, but remained silent. Lucius cocked his head and studied his son. "Draco its obvious that you have feelings for her, but the question is, does she return those feelings?" Draco's head shot up and he stared wide eyed at his father.
"I think so, it was Hermione that initiated both the kiss in my dorm and the goodnight kiss last night. And when I commented this morning that perhaps we should call each other by our first names all the time she readily agreed"
"Is there anything else that gives you the impression that her feelings for you are more than friendly?" Lucius asked curiously, wondering just how observant his son was when it came to Hermione Granger.
"Well, after we agreed to call each other by our first names, I asked her if I could call her Mia and she said yes, then there's all the times that I have noticed her watching me out of the corner of her eyes. And the way she blushes when she notices me watching her" Draco sighed heavily then looked up at his father with confused silver eyes. "Am I right? Or am I reading too much into this because of my hope that she returns my feelings?" Lucius smiled gently at Draco.
"I believe you're right Draco, your mother and I have noticed the same things" Draco's cheeks turned pink again.
"You and mum have?"
"Yes, we both see that it is obvious that the two of you are not only attracted to each other, but also that you have strong feelings as well. Its nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about Draco" Lucius added as Draco's cheeks darkened and he dropped his head, he knew that Draco was remembering the Malfoy family rules. "Draco there is something that I want to ask you to do" Draco met his father's eyes.
"What is it?"
"I want you to forget nearly every Malfoy family rule that I taught you when you were younger"
"Nearly?" Draco queried. Lucius nodded.
"Yes nearly, I'm sure you know which ones I don't want you to forget"
"Yes Dad, 'A Malfoy never raises a hand to a woman, and only ever raises his wand to one to protect himself'"
"That is by far the most important one yes, but there are others that are similar" Draco nodded in understanding.
"I know which ones you mean dad" Lucius smiled in pride.
"Did I help at all with your dilemma?" he asked.
"Yes, you did thanks, I know what my feelings are for Mia, I just have to figure out how to ask her out"
"Just let things flow naturally of their own course Draco, you will find that when it happens, and I believe that it will, it will make your relationship a lot stronger, the most important key to remember is honesty, always be honest with her and yourself, subterfuge and schemes will only backfire" Lucius stated with a grimace. Draco cocked his head and grinned.
"You speak as if from experience"
"That's because I am, you should ask your godfather about some of the schemes that I came up with to win your mother. Quite a few times he had to bail me out of trouble of my own making" Draco laughed at the face his father pulled, then sobered slightly.
"Speaking of Uncle Sev, has he replied to the owl that you sent him before breakfast?"
"Yes, he will be here Christmas Eve morning and will stay until after dinner on Boxing Day"
"Brilliant!" Draco grinned.
"I believe that he was a little shocked to be invited" Lucius smiled.
"I wish that I could have seen his face when he received the owl, Dumbledore probably teased him about it" Draco commented.
"No doubt he did, knowing that old codger" Lucius agreed with a smirk as Ziggy appeared to announce that lunch was ready. Draco rose from his chair and smiled at his father.
"Thanks for your advice dad, it helped a lot. I'd better go and fetch Mia, I left her reading in the library and if I don't rouse her out of there she'll miss lunch altogether" Lucius nodded in understanding as he too rose from his chair.
"You're welcome Draco" He replied as Draco smiled at him then left the study to fetch Hermione. As soon as Draco was out of sight Lucius grinned wildly and hurried off to find Narcissa and inform her about his chat with their son.
Well there you have it, sorry it took so long but as i explained i had to rewrite it after my computer ate it!! the original was longer but the conversation between Lucius and Draco was a bit more repetative and long winded.
Please read and Review but no flames please.