MY LAST NAME
Chapter 6
It had been a week since the strange encounter with Draco Malfoy, yet Hermione couldn't stop thinking about it. She had briefly wrote to Harry and Ron, saying what a wonderful time she'd had at the party, but thought it were best to keep the whole splinching story to herself.
She took a small sip from her glass of white, before shutting the book 'An Anthology of Eighteen Century Charms' and placing it gently on her table next to her chair. She looked outside the window, still seated, and saw the night had drawn black; shining stars started to burst to life, one by one. She rested her head back, before something black, blurred across her window. She sat up, startled as to what it was, before she heard the gentle hoot of an owl, emitting from her bedroom. She stood up and walked quickly into her chambers before seeing jet black owl with bright eyes carrying a piece of parchment.
Dear Hermione,
I would like to invite you to my residence next Saturday for tea.
Regards,
Draco Malfoy.
The short note was stared at in amazement. Hermione, although extremely perplexed, felt excited. However, she didn't understand how this man didn't seem to bring on that dark, nauseating feeling she felt with others linked to the war. And especially seeing as Draco had been frolicking with Death Eaters and Voldemort himself. But that was nice, she enjoyed being around someone who didn't make her feel like she was about to vomit into the nearest bin.
She quickly grabbed a pen and a piece of parchment and wrote her reply, accepting his invitation. She handed it to the large black owl, and watched as it flew into the night, disappearing almost immediately.
Hermione felt her stomach churn with nervousness as she walked up to the large iron gates of The Malfoy Residence. The mansion was vast, it had a relative number of outbuildings, and a large pond with wild geese, ducks and swans inhabiting it. She knocked twice on the ridiculously large door, soon after she was greeted by a servant, a different one to the three she had already met. She welcomed Hermione and took her coat, before walking her through into a large lounge.
It immediately reminded her of Gryffindor's common room; there was an open fire, taking up 1/4 of the back wall. The room was painted a soft cream, with the ancient looking furniture being dark burgundy, browns and black. Thick curtains and tapestries draped over the windows, blocking out all sunlight, the fire was the only think keeping the room from being a deadly black.
"Please, come sit down" Draco was stood beside her, he'd snuck in behind his servant and was now looking across at her, his arms folded tightly against his toned chest.
"You shouldn't sneak up on me like that" Hermione told him firmly. He laughed quietly before sitting down in a large arm chair, alongside the fireplace. Hermione took a seat opposite him, still examining the room.
"Do the walls and ceiling really interest you that much?" Draco sat back.
"As a matter of fact, they do"
"Pray, tell me" he had a mischievous grin on his face.
"It's such a stark difference to all the black I've seen in the rest of your house" she looked back at him and their eyes locked.
"I like to treat this as my haven. I come in here when I want to shut the world out. When I want to shut the blackness out." He looked down "I drink myself into some states where I don't even leave here to get to my chambers." He pointed across to a large drinks globe. "Cheap sex and expensive alcohol, that's my secret." He sat forward slightly, looking back into her eyes. "What's yours?"
She looked back into his solid, mysterious eyes thinking hard.
"I suppose you could say I keep myself distracted in more, educational ways" she smiled. He laughed.
"I still live in a library, but a muggle one. From time to time, I do like to read the odd book I kept from my time at Hogwarts, but" the dark feeling started to squeeze her insides "they sometimes bring back bad memories." She finished. He looked at her, his face, expressionless; she wondered what he was thinking of.
"Why did I find you, splinched, and having a panic attack in Diagon Alley, Hermione Granger?" He asked her, waiting to hear what she had to say so he could dissect it as much as he could. She looked down.
"Why did I receive an invitation to your residence for tea, Draco Malfoy?" She looked up at him with a smile, the smile that always unwound her out of sticky situations such as this. Draco chuckled dryly and sat back in his chair.
"I asked first."
Hermione sighed and took a breath.
"I was trying to apparate home, after I'd been to Ron's 21st. It was the first time in a while since I'd seen them all you see. Last time, I was going through a tough time" she swallowed, her mouth was becoming very dry. "My mind slipped, and I found myself in Diagon Alley."
"You say, you hadn't see them in a while, because of your panic attacks -"
"I said I was going through a tough time" Hermione intervened. He tilted his head slightly to the right and looked at her with a 'I know that that means' expression. She sat back and let him carry on.
"Why is it,you agreed to come here, of all places? And to see me, of all people?" He sat forward, closer to her.
"You must answer my question now. That's how this game works" she smiled the same slightly mischievous smile.
"I invited you, because my curiosity led me to insanity. Obviously." His cryptic answer echoed in Hermione's head.
"Now you answer mine"
She sighed in defeat.
"Do you really want the truth?"
"I wouldn't be asking if I didn't."
She took a deep breath.
"Well, firstly, you saved me and fixed my arm. But, I feel, I feel like we're the same. We're both alone and we are both still suffering from what happened." She felt her insides squeeze a little more. "I feel like, we both need each other, to help ourselves cope. And when you apologised to me, I knew exactly how you felt. I knew that it wasn't just me, cooped up in a dark place. You are too." She laughed quietly "metaphorically and literally."
"I completely underestimated you, Miss Granger." Draco whispered, looking deep into her eyes trying to work out what she held behind her wall of steel. But he still smiled inside, she was right about everything.
"A lot of people do" she whispered. In all the time she was talking, Draco had chance to fully examine the features of Hermione Granger; her skin was as perfect as porcelain, her hair, fell down, past her shoulders, thick and wavy, her smile was gentle and soft, the beauty that poured from her, as he looked into her eyes was one he never thought he'd ever find.
The servants then trotted in, one by one, dropping off pots of tea and coffee on a near table. They asked if anything else was to be done, and Draco, not removing his eyes from Hermione mumbled,
"No, that is all." They walked out and closed the door softly behind them.