Two updates from me on WIP's in the same day? What? First of all, I do truly apologize for a month in between updates. It's tricky for me to switch gears from Wanderlust to this fic, but at least it's fully planned? I hope you enjoy this installment! Next chapter we have scary stories around a campfire! Once the year is over, I will be free from deadlines, and will endeavor to tacke this in a month, or two. :)
All errors belong to either myself, or to Grammarly. Most likely me though. This should be regularly beta'd soon so I don't have to put you through my awful grammar.
Given with how well it had gone over with Micheal, and Hannah, Hermione's already low expectations for Leanne Smith sunk even lower. When the other two counsellors slunk off to their cabins, Hermione stayed at the table, her head resting in her hands. Yes, she'd expected the pushback even though she'd sent them both owls long before she was due to fetch Malfoy from the Leaky Cauldron.
Both of them had the chance to bow out respectfully, but it was clear they thought they stood the tiniest chance against the decision of the Wizengamot. Hermione couldn't make Hannah believe that the former Death Eater wasn't a threat; she understood that but also understood just how many spells had gone into protecting this area.
Protecting the occupants from the outside world was really child's play for any fully-fledged Witch or Wizard. It was fortifying everyone from one person inside of the wards that had thrown Hermione for a loop. On a gold chain, similar to the one her time turner had hung from, around her neck there was a simple gold charm.
It wasn't in her interest to tell anyone else, least of all Malfoy, that the delicate charm would tell her if Malfoy made a move beyond the wards. Akin to the trace on his wand that led straight back to the Ministry, who seemed to be waiting on hot coals for him to slip up - the charm would burn against her clavicle if Draco Malfoy fucked up.
There was quite literally nothing he could do without Hermione Granger knowing. At least not if it involved Dark Magic. Harry thought she was naive to believe that the charm wasn't completely necessary. Of course, she would wear it every day of the summer, perhaps even when they returned to Hogwarts, but she had doubts he would do anything. She'd sat front row of his trial, and despite how much he preferred to act like a prick, Hermione knew that he had regrets.
"Stunned Corner, did you?"
Hermione lifted her head from her hands, there must have been imprints of her palms under her eyes, to look at him. Malfoy was blocking out the moon as he stood over her, and around them, the Forbidden Forest had fallen silent. There was a soft sound that was the water of the Great Lake lapping lazily against the shore.
Slowly, she nodded, drawing her bottom lip between her teeth. "He deserved it, but I shouldn't have done it at all."
"Right. We're meant to be examples." It sounded suspiciously like laughter as Hermione tore her eyes away from him. "If you ask me, it could just be a lesson of not putting up with anyone's shite."
Hermione snorted, letting her arms fall to the table. "Somehow I don't think that's how small children would take it. They would probably think it's okay to wallop someone and solve their problems with violence."
There was a low sound in his throat as he sat across from her. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Did you just laugh?" She gaped, pulling her hands back when she accidentally brushed the bare skin of his arm. "I honestly can't tell."
Rolling his eyes, he replied, "It was a laugh, but to be clear I was laughing at you. You say how children shouldn't learn to solve their problems with violence, but -"
"Don't you dare bring up third year, Malfoy," Hermione grumbled under her breath, looking to the side where she could see the grass being blown by a slight breeze. "It was years ago."
However, he continued as if she hadn't spoken, "you're the one who walloped me in the face in third year."
"You deserved it." She folded her arms across her chest, her fingers brushing against the soft fabric of her shirt. There was a chill in the air now, making the hair on her arms stand up. It brought back memories of how the wind changed, and the moment they knew snatchers were nearly on top of them.
He smirked, lacing his fingers together as he clasped his hands in front of him. "So did Corner apparently."
She turned her nose up at him, staring to the side. "If I hadn't done it, you would have and then I would have had even more problems." The silence was short. Hermione couldn't imagine sitting quietly across from him when everything in her was screaming that it was far too strange, and she should just turn in for the night. "He shouldn't have talked about her."
Clenching his jaw was the only display of emotion she got from him. It wasn't like she expected him to say anything about his mother at all.
Hermione looked down at her lap while brushing hair behind her ears. "I'm sorry she's gone." There was a delay between words as she struggled to form an apology.
Malfoy jerked his head, and it took a passing moment for her to recognize it as a nod. "I'm..sorry," it sounded as if he were testing the word out on his tongue as if he'd never used it before. Maybe he hadn't, "about your parents."
Swallowing, she nodded. There was a grimace twisting her lips. This wasn't what she wanted to happen. While they would have to spend the summer is close quarters, as teammates - she shuddered internally - Hermione had no desire to know Draco Malfoy. "Thank you," she whispered. "Do you think you're ready for tomorrow?"
"Are you asking if I can refrain from provoking Leanne?" A nod. "I won't attempt to make it worse." He told her, and it wasn't much of a reaffirmation.
"She's going to have it out for you."
He blinked. "Well, obviously. I nearly caused her best friend to die. I can't blame her, and after the last year," Malfoy cringed. It was the only display of emotion that she had ever seen contort his face as it did. "Leanne could try to kill me in my sleep, and I wouldn't stop her." He finally said.
Hermione said nothing as she stood, slipping the strap of her bag over her shoulder. She grabbed her notes, and then she handed it to him. At the puzzled look on his face, really it was just his eyebrows drawing together, she explained, "It's everything on every person that will be here. The ones I gave you earlier were for Slytherin. Am I correct in thinking you won't be able to sleep?"
"Suppose so," he murmured, cracking open to the first page. "Activities?"
She nodded. "It's everything I have for the summer. The campers biographies, anything noteworthy, psych profiles from St. Mungos. Eventually Michael, and Hannah," she motioned behind her to the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff cabins, "will see it as well. If you're sure that you will be up.."
He waved her off. "Go to sleep, Granger. There are bags under your eyes. Perhaps in that bag of yours, you have a book on beauty charms? Just because you don't care how you look doesn't mean you have to punish the rest of us."
Hermione didn't reply as she dragged her feet, making her way to the cabin. Each cabin was built from wood and magic. If she laid her palm against the wall, she would feel the magic coursing through the materials. "Alohomora," she whispered, aiming her wand at the lock. Closing the door behind her, Hermione set the password to the name of her Kneazle.
Crookshanks was already napping in the middle of the bed. Each of the cabins included an attached room with full amenities, save for Ravenclaw, which had two. The campers' quarters were much like the dormitories of Hogwarts. Fashioned into separate rooms, which wouldn't be doable if it weren't for magic, boy, and girls could not enter the opposite rooms after a set curfew of ten o'clock.
Hermione tugged her shirt over her head and shimmied out of her jeans. Kneeling to the floor, she opened her trunk. She slid Ron's quidditch jersey over her body. It hung halfway down her thigh, the material soft against breasts after she unclasped her bra, leaving it discarded in the floor. Padding across the floor, she made her way into the bathroom to brush her hair out the best she could so it wouldn't be quite as awful in the morning when she showered.
And lastly, Hermione plucked her wand from the dresser as she faced the doorway of the room that would lead to the outside. She cast a silencing charm, as she knew she was bound to call out in her sleep, and the last thing she wanted was for anyone to hear her beg an imaginary Bellatrix to stop.
Some things would never leave her, certainly not her survival skills, and looking over her shoulder. And that was why she grabbed the decorative vase from the table and levitated it in front of the door. The charm was strong enough to hold even as she slept, and if anyone opened the door, it would shatter.
Falling asleep with Crooks curled up at her feet, and her wand in her fierce grip, she would be ready for the worst.
Naturally, she knew that the majority of students who would step off of the Hogwarts Express - using the train again had been McGonagall's idea - were orphans. She knew each thing about them like the back of her hand, and she'd painstakingly scribbled notes in the margins of the reports. Dozens of pages of parchments held the finer details.
Allergies. Likes, and dislikes. What classes in Hogwarts did they like the most? What problems did she foresee for the duration of the summer?
Malfoy stood at her side, looking every bit of the thorn in her side that he was, and he bloody well knew it. She'd lost count of the insults Malfoy and Corner exchanged just on the walk to the platform. Hannah was silent, standing at the farthest end.
Before the engine could shudder, and the door could slide open, Hermione looked at each of them. "You decided to stay." She voiced, the unspoken threat clear in her voice. Don't muck it all up.
"It will be fine," Hannah told her with a weak smile, twisting a piece of light blonde hair around her finger. "You've never steered us wrong before."
It took every ounce of willpower not to snort because she certainly hadn't been saying that when Hermione insisted Harry wasn't lying. "Thank you." Hermione settled with, and the doors of the Hogwarts Express slid open.
The youngest spilt out first, and her heart clenched at the sight of Henry. His eyes were sunken in, and he was frail - clearly, he hadn't been taken care of wherever the Ministry stuck him after the war. Henry's eyes brightened when they landed on Malfoy, and he shot into his arms. There was a low, guttural oof from Malfoy when the little boy crashed into him.
Hermione couldn't hear what Malfoy murmured to the boy, and she tried not to stare when he embraced his friend's cousin.
Dennis Creevey came to stand at her side, nodding to her as he motioned to a young girl who stepped off the train. "Olivia, we'll be with Hermione." He said.
As the next children stepped off, the other three counsellors grabbing their kids, Hermione didn't notice when the sharp intake of breath. "What the fuck are you doing here?" Leanne snarled, her bag landing against the rickety platform with a thud. "Is this some kind of joke?" Her eyes were wide, and her hands curled into fists at her side.
"Considering you didn't laugh, I would assume it's not a joke," Malfoy said smoothly. "Believe me, this is the last place I wanted to be."
"You should be in Azkaban with your father," she hissed, "two of kind, the pair of you are," Leanne said flippantly. "Granger -"
"If you're going to insist that he leaves, save your breath." Michael interrupted, casting a look to Hermione that told him he wasn't happy about it either. "Hermione didn't pick him for this; he was put here."
"He needs to be put in a cage." Leanne huffed.
Hands on her hips, Hermione snapped "Enough."
Smith cast a glare her way, standing off to the side with Hannah. Another Hufflepuff, Isobel MacDougal stepped off the bottom step of the train, and her eyes shot open as she took in Malfoy. Her shock vanished just as quickly, and she made her way to stand beside Hannah.
Adelaide dragged her trunk beside her, a sour curve to her lips as she stood beside Henry and Malfoy. The blond crouched down, taking her trunk from her.
There were two Ravenclaws, a brother and sister pair. Conveniently, they were the only ones who didn't stare at Malfoy as if he were some kind of sideshow. The elder of the two, Lisa, was in Hermione's year.
"Okay," Hermione cleared her throat, her hand rubbing Dennis's shoulder. "Please follow me."
The atmosphere which enveloped them felt like the sharp end of a blade. It was a bad situation that they needed to turn around, but so far neither the Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff counsellors were much help.
Leanne had pulled Hannah away at the first opening, forcing her into their cabin, and hadn't bothered to put up a silencing charm. So when Smith screamed the obvious - that Malfoy had been a Death Eater, everyone heard it.
Exchanging a look with Malfoy, Hermione sighed and stood from the table bench. "I'll be right back." She told Michael. "If the two of you could do something so every child in the group could participate, that would be ideal. You've seen the note -" she began, but Malfoy cut her off with a wave of his hand.
"Yes, Granger, I'm aware of each child's likes, dislikes, and allergies. We won't let them die before you get back. Why don't you just let them settle in?" He remarked, and Corner said nothing, seemingly not interested in saying anything that was in agreeance with Malfoy.
Hermione glanced around the campground. Olivia Warbeck sat with Dennis Creevey, twirling her wand nimbly between her fingers, and they didn't appear to be saying much. Henry was lounging against a tree while Adelaide pulled at the grass at the base of the tree. "They've broken off into houses, Malfoy. The point of this isn't so they can separate into their own cliques."
He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "For someone who claims to care about this children, you're a dense idiot, Granger. They were tossed together on a train ride,"
"They all wanted to come." She interrupted.
"Of course they did! Anything is better than sitting at home while the Wizarding World tries to put itself back together. You need to let them relax before you start tossing different personalities together."
With a roll of her eyes, Hermione conceded with a nod before making her way toward the Hufflepuff cabin. Dragging her feet up the wooden steps, she considered knocking before she barged in. Yet if Leanne couldn't be considerate enough to not put every individual on edge in the area, Hermione didn't feel she needed to offer her hospitality.
She looked back to the two male counsellors and saw that they were studiously ignoring one another. Padma had taken a seat across from Malfoy, laying her head on her forearms, and her plait running along the length of her spine. Lisa Turpin crossed one leg over the other after she'd sat down across from Corner, but there wasn't a lick of conversation between any of them.
Hermione pressed the door open, taking in the black and yellow house banner hanging on the opposing wall, and the neatly made beds that sat in the room. There were only two in the camper's side, and they were placed on the far sides of the room. "Thank Merlin, someone who will bloody understand!" Leanne snapped, throwing her hands up. "Hermione, he cannot stay here."
The frizzy-haired witch - it was even worse now, growing to two times its normal size thanks to the humidity - cast a silencing charm, waving her wand, and murmuring the charm beneath her breath. And then she sucked in a sharp breath as she turned to the infuriated girl. "Just who do you think you are?" Hermione asked with a degree of calmness she hadn't been sure she would be able to manage. "Do you think I asked Malfoy here? Do you believe that I would force his presence upon anyone here?"
"I know it was the Wizengamot, but you could change their minds! Potter could -"
"Harry is in auror training, and he doesn't have time to make sure you're comfortable. For better or for worse, Malfoy is staying for the duration of the summer. If you can't be around him, I fully understand, and I'll arrange for you to return home right now."
Leanne's face grew red, her eyes dilating in anger, and her breaths coming in angry pants. "What the fuck-"
"I assure you that I am the last one you should lose your tongue with." Hermione quipped, sliding her wand into her back pocket. "Would you like to go home?"
"What would I bloody go home to, Granger?" She screamed, leaning in toward Hermione. "Shall I camp out next to my father's grave? Would you rather I sleep in a room at St Mungo's while my mother fights for her life? One of those Death Eaters poisoned by mother, and she may never recover." Leanne flung her hands out, shoving Hermione against the wall.
The mirror hanging above the vanity fell from its fixture, crashing to the floor and shattering. The large glass shards slid across the fresh wood flooring, and if there had been a point where Smith looked angry, it was surely then. "Hermione -"
She waved Leanne off, brushing the miniscule glass shards from her shirt. "I'm not angry about that," Hermione told her. "I know why you're angry, and it's not my intention to make it mean anything less. It's just.." Hermione bit her bottom lip.
"What?" Leanne's bottom lip shook. "Oh, my God, don't you dare tell me you're going to defend him! He's a monster - what he did to Katie nearly killed her." She screeched, and Hannah took several steps back.
Hermione nodded. "It was horrible what he did, and I truly - Leanne, listen to me. Malfoy didn't poison your mother."
"Don't you think I know that?" She hissed, her fingers curling around her wand. "It doesn't make him any better than the one who did." Leanne drew a deep breath, looking anywhere that wasn't Hermione. "How can you agree with him being here?" She asked, tilting her head to the side. "Can't you tell me that?"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I don't think he's the best man I've ever met in my life. Make no mistake, I think Draco Malfoy was a prick and did several things he regrets. But he gets just as much a chance to change, and fix his life as we do. I didn't fight so only our side could be happy. What did you fight in the Battle of Hogwarts for?"
Leanne fell silent. Whether she'd gotten through to her, or Hermione had finally angered her enough to stay silent, she wasn't sure. "There's a path where we can go for a walk," Hannah interjected, laying her hand on the young woman's shoulder. "Help you get out of your head."
Hermione nodded to Hannah before shutting the door behind her.
Malfoy and Corner were useless when it came to planning activities. Neither of them could agree on anything, and after the third hour of planning while the kids swam in the Great Lake - a part that had already been cleared safety wide by the Ministry -, Hermione called it quits. Or..well, truly she told them to sod off and placed them in charge of making sure children didn't drown.
Leanne was off with Hannah, walking the same path through the forest again. While Hannah should have also been watching over Isobel MacDougal, Padma had whispered in her ear that morning she would watch over the girl.
Hermione's fear was that Isobel would sink below the surface, never crying out for help since she's not used her voice in over a year. It left her at the bench alone, glaring at the scattered pieces of notebook paper. One perk of sending Malfoy away was that he couldn't comment anymore on her muggle things at the very least.
"What can I do to help?" Lisa asked, sliding into the seat across from her with a smile. "I know your teammates aren't doing all that much to help you right now." She winced, grabbing a pen and clicking the top. "You know, I can see why you prefer these. Even being raised in a partly muggle household, I still always used a quill."
"A good pen will change your life." Hermione laughed, sliding her notes to the side to show her. "Hannah is controlling Leanne for the most part, which is apparently a full-time job. Michael and Malfoy can't get along for anything, and I couldn't listen to it anymore."
"I can imagine how frustrating it must be to be forced to listen to Michael argue just for the sake of not agreeing with Draco." Lisa laughed, drawing a line down the middle of the paper. "So, what would you think about a few nighttime activities? Mostly we'll be outside during the day of course, but they might get restless at night."
Hermione tapped the cap of her pen against her bottom lip, nodding. "Did you already have something in mind?"
The smile that curved the brunette's lips was a mischevious one, one that frequently graced the Weasley twins features, and Hermione found herself leaning forward. "You're not the only one who ever went to a summer camp, Granger. I think we should make a campfire tonight, and we should take turns telling ghost stories."
"I like the way you think." Hermione grinned, pushing the paper across the table for her to scribble the suggestion into the column labelled for nighttime activities. "We should roast marshmallows, but we would have to go get them."
Lisa nodded. "Do you imagine Draco, and Michael could hold down the fort while we went to the shop?" Laughing at even her own suggestion, she continued, "I think I already know the answer to that question, but I find myself wanting to know what happens when we leave them alone. Smores, yeah?"
"I thought I'd brought everything I would need for them because I had that planned, but I was clearly wrong. There's a small shop that's near an apparition point." Hermione was already gathering her things, neatly tucking away the list they had barely started on into the folder, and sliding it into her bag. "Let's go down to the lake, and let them know we're leaving."
With the only sound the snapping of twigs as the walked over them, Hermione slung her bag over her shoulder and led the way to the Great Lake. Her only experience being when she'd been submerged for Viktor Krum's task in the Triwizard tournament, she wasn't at all keen on revisiting the dark depths. No matter how thoroughly the Ministry had gone through it. Hermione didn't like anything about it, the darkness, especially in the deepest parts where it was nearly black, or the heavy pressure that was pressed against her ears.
"Hey!" Lisa cupped her hands around her mouth, and hollered, her voice echoing against the forest, sending birds to scatter from the trees. "We're leaving! See you in a half hour. Oliver, don't go too deep!"
Her fourteen-year-old brother looked mortified as he sunk beneath the water, not offering a reply at all.
To their surprise, Malfoy was in the water, his shirt discarded on the shore, and he rested his forearms against the deck. "Where are you going?" He asked, arching an eyebrow.
Turning on her heel, Hermione didn't offer a reply. "We have to go beyond the wards." Hermione murmured, too low for anyone else to hear. "There's a spot not far from here that I can take us through." While none of the lower years could ever make it out of the wards she'd crafted, it didn't mean she wanted them to try.
"They sound like they're having a good time," Lisa said, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jumper while she followed Hermione. "Michael wasn't in the water."
"I wonder how Malfoy was convinced to get in." A barely there smile graced her lips, and she looked up the incline to see Leanne and Hannah. "If you get bored, everyone is at the lake," Hermione called out.
Leanne glared at her. "Everyone?" She sneered, her lip curled in disgust.
Ignoring her, Hermione continued on, grabbing onto Lisa's hand as she pulled them through the wards. "If we apparate to Diagon Alley we won't have to worry about not finding everything in one place." She muttered, still holding onto Lisa's hand, and praying that the tiny charm around her neck wouldn't burn while she was gone.
Even if it was so unlikely.
He didn't hate being there, not even close actually. It was just like being a prefect, he told himself, but somehow this felt more important. Even if he would never admit, Malfoy agreed with Granger. With each head that he counted every sixty seconds - he was getting rather quick at it -, he recognized that this was a broken group of children.
It was hard to consider Creevey a child. During the late night he pulled as that swot left him with file after file, he knew that the younger brother had seen his brother fall in the battle. The little Ravenclaw hadn't spoken, and he didn't know if it was a personal choice, or if her vocal cords had been hexed. It hadn't been in Granger's notes, and he didn't fancy asking her himself. Henry and Adelaide were quick to bond. The two of his house stuck to one another, and they stayed away from the other campers.
Heaving a sigh as another sixty seconds rolled around, Draco yelped as someone landed right on top of his head, knocking him into the water. The chilliness of the Great Lake rushed up to meet him, and he reaching above him to wrangle whoever had dunked him. Wrestling them grab their arms, he broke the surface, gasping for air.
One look up revealed Oliver, who was grinning sheepishly. "Sorry, Mr Malfoy. Warbeck dared me to do it." He laughed, wiping water from his face, and slicking his hair back.
"It's fine." He said. "You don't have to be so formal around me," Draco muttered, and then he was lifting Oliver off his shoulders, and tossing him back into the water. Staying close since he knew the boy couldn't swim well, he was there for Oliver to grab his forearm, and be guided back to the sturdiness of the dock. "Has anyone taught you how to swim?"
He shook his head. "My sister isn't the most patient, and I never thought about it over the summers."
Draco frowned. "That won't do. I'll teach you; come on."
Much of the facts are taken directly from Pottermore, and several characters have been twisted to suit my needs. There was a reviewer who wondered what Malfoy had done to Leanne Smith. If you aren't aware - I wasn't until I read it - Leanne's friend (best friend in this fic) is Katie Bell. To say she dislikes Malfoy is an understatement.