Chapter 2
Hermione woke up the next morning grateful it was Saturday, she stretched slowly letting the morning sun dance across her skin. Crookshanks stirred next to her feet and slowly extended his paws froward, in one of those odd cat poses where half of his body reached one way and the other twisted in the opposite direction. Hermione giggled at the strange cat and gave him a few strokes before pushing her covers off, making her bed and then started getting ready for the day. She loved morning showers to invigorate her, the warm water flowing down her skin, as her shampoo, conditioner, and soaps filled the area with soft floral and sandalwood scents. Hermione didn't care for smelling like she walked out of the fruit isle or took a swim in candy or pastries, no, she preferred warm floral scents, she liked the earthy smells of woods and spices. She almost envied mens cologne, they always sent her senses in to a sweet bliss, although that was the point of such products.
Once she finished her shower she quickly put on some clothes, took care of her hair and teeth and then went the kitchen to get a light breakfast and some tea only to settle herself on the floor. Spread out in front of her were files, she wanted to make more headway on the Fair Treatment of House Elves Decree that she was currently trying to push up the Ministry. Many rich families still had house elves, only a handful of homes had chosen to free their elves free, even though the purchase and selling of house elves had been outlawed. The loop hole however was that they could be given as gifts, the claim being that elves were the same as giving your child a cat or a owl. Hermione's bill focused on the trade and gifting of creatures with a high enough intelligence to communicate. This was always the hardest part of her job, Hermione always believed in following the rules, or the rules that the rules implied. The latter part seemed to be what people manipulated to circumvent the laws. She, for the life of her, couldn't understand why people thought that they better then the rules and implications, or thought the rules simply did not apply to them. She had been told over and over again by many wealthy entitled purebloods, My family goes back blah blah, this is how it has always been, blah blah, do you expect me to clean my own, blah blah blah. She sneered at the thought of one woman in particular last Thursday who complained to her for at least an hour the injustices of doing her own laundry.
The rest of her Saturday went as most of Saturdays did she worked most of the day, then in the early evening she ventured down to the local market picked up some foods and necessitates for the upcoming week. She walked home, back cooked herself dinner and then since the weather had been particularly nice that evening she decieded to take a per-dusk walk to enjoy the evening air and watch as her little neighborhood came to life. Children played in the streets, families gathered for various reasons and she watched them live their lives. Something not even five years ago lay in a precarious balance, if for no other reason, this was worth the night terrors and panic attacks that she suffered post war. Even if none of her muggle neighbors knew the sacrifices that so many people made, herself included, the fact they they were able to go on living their simple war free lives was enough for Hermione.
She could feel the night air slowly sinking around her as she turned down her street. She looked up at the stars, though with the light pollution of London you couldn't see most of them, that was one of the things she missed about Hogwarts. The stars has always been so so beautiful out there. She strolled through her little gate up the walk and unlocked her door and went upstairs to bed, tomorrow she could go to brunch at the Weasley's which means she would need plenty of energy.
Draco awoke late the next morning recovering from a night of drinking after the burial. He and a few of the other pureblood heirs decided that standing around and reminiscing sounded rather dull, and thought hitting the pubs sounded like a far better way to spend their Friday night. They ended up staying out until unreasonable hours of the morning and only went home because the pubs stopped severing them alcohol. It was nice to get out and have a bit of fun, Draco had been feeling a dark cloud hanging over him since Lucius passing, why he wasn't sure, but he was doing everything he could to repress the feeling.
A loud snap cracked through the room, "Good morning Master Draco, Nibsy, has brought you some hangover potion, as master Draco asked Nibsy to bring him the potion last night sir." The house elf grinned form ear to ear, his squeaky voice, far too chipper for Draco's throbbing headache.
Draco shielded his eyes as he heard Nibsy place the potion by his bedside then trot to the window to draw the drapes. "Thank you, Nibsy," he grunted as the sun shown brightly through the window, also thanking his drunk self for the foresight that he would desperately want that potion. Draco sat up on his forearms grabbed the potion and drank it swiftly, though the taste of old leather and tomatoes itself was enough to sober one up. He gave the vial back to the house elf and laid down for a moment to allow the potion to take affect. A few minutes passed and he felt his headache coming to an ease and felt his queasy stomach calm. Once he was sure that the potion had it full effect he very slowly stood up and walked in to his en-suit to take a shower and begin his day.
Properly dressed and groomed, Draco left his room at half past eleven to find his mother sitting in the drawing room. "Good morning, Mother" he greeted her with a small kiss to the cheek and sat down in the winged chair across from her. Instantly with pop another house elf appeared with a tea cup and saucer for Draco, also replenishing the biscuits. Draco nodded and with a pop the house elf was gone and Draco was pouring himself his tea.
"Good morning Draco, it is so kind of you to finally arouse yourself. I was beginning to wonder if you would grace me with your presence today." She delicately took a sipped her tea her blue eyes surveying her son carefully.
"Of course I would grace you with my presence, Mother, who else would I grace it with" he said in a nonchalant tone. Sipping his tea and meeting her eyes, he knew she was irritated, but she didn't look overly upset, so it seemed she was just mildly annoyed. "So do tell me, how did the wake go?"
She glared as her son clearly mad that he didn't attend his fathers wake. "If you had stayed, you wouldn't have to ask," she said crisply.
"Ah, well, yes that is true, but you and I both know that there was nothing about father I wished to honor, so it seemed far better that I remove my ill will from his wake." Draco placed his tea on the table between them.
"Such a shame, Draco. Your father while he was not a perfect man, did very much love the both of us, even if his decisions did not necessarily reflect that," she reminded him coolly, not wanting to practically fight with her only son two days after he got back form his three year journey around the world.
Draco muttered something under his breath, as he leaned back in his chair crossing his legs and folding his hands in front of him. "If you say so," he conceded. "Now what's for lunch? Do you have anything in particular that you wish to do today?"
Narcissa carefully looked over her son, acquiescing was not something Draco did very well, perhaps his worldly travels did help him mature, at least in the way of correctly picking his battles. She arched an eyebrow at him, "Well it would be nice to hear of your travels, it seems they may have done you some good." She gracefully sipped her tea.
Draco smirked at his mother. "I traveled, what else can I say?" He ran a hand through is platinum hair. He had let it grow out giving him a more roguish appearance, which seemed to attract women within a hundred meter radius.
"Come now, Draco, do tell," irritation raising in her voice again.
Draco leaned forward to pick up his tea once more and took a sip. "Well I started off in Paris, I took the muggle bullet train to get there, muggles are very very adept in travel, this train can move at 175 kilometers an hour. I learned of it in my muggles studies. After I arrived in Pairs I met some of your friends who were glad to host me."
"Yes I heard, Mrs. Boudreaux wouldn't stop gushing over how lovely you were when she came for a visit two summers ago." She eyed him carefully "She also said that Aimee was quite taken with you."
If Draco was abashed by her comment he skillfully played it off "Yes, Aimee is a very endearing young lady," more so with her clothes off. "I stayed a few weeks with the Boudreaux's, and then from Paris to Brussels taking the bullet train again"
"Do we know anyone in Brussels?" Narcissa inquired.
"No, but the point of the journey was to explore, and that meant going where I didn't know people." Draco knew his mother would be apprehensive with him meeting strangers and staying in random places, so he redirected the conversation again. "From Brussels to Cologne, then I traveled from town to town in Germany, it took some practice but I became very good at the translation spell. Then from Germany I went through Switzerland, I didn't much time in there, because Blaise wanted me to meet him Italy, I apparated and met him at his villa in Venice, where we stayed until the new year. After that he suggested we go to Greece, apparently his family own a place in Santorini. So we spent another month or two there and then I insisted that I go at it alone again, though it pained me to leave Greece. So I took off for Istanbul, taking a lot of ferries and boats to get there and somehow managed to find a wizard who was kind enough to let me use his floo, he sent me to their Diagon alley so that worked out perfectly, because then I was just able to floo from one Wizarding community to another, which allowed me to see Jerusalem and Egypt I spent about two months in both. Then I went to Casablanca for another two months an finally wound up in Spain. Spain was easily my favorite, I spent six months there before you owled me."
Narcissa nodded. "It sounds like you had quite an extravagant trip." She sipped her tea carefully. "Do you intend on staying here for some time then?" She asked hoping her son was done with his pilgrimage.
He smiled in to his tea. "Yes, mother, I do intend on staying here for the time being. I need you to understand that after the war I just needed to get away from everything. I spent the better part of my last year at Hogwarts ignored by everyone else."
Narcissa bristled. "I do in fact understand, Draco, I was a pariah after the war as well, many of our social circle blamed me for their family and friends being sent to Azkaban. Yet I chose to stay here and not run off." She spat at him.
Draco sighed. "I didn't mean you didn't struggle too, mother. I just.."
Narcissa cut him off. "You just left your mother to clean up the disaster that your father left." With that said she put down her tea stood up and walked away from him, stopping just before she left the room. "I'm meeting with Portia Zabini tomorrow for lunch in Daigon Alley, she's bringing Blaise and I expect you to come" she said over her shoulder and then swiftly left the room.
Draco smiled. His mother hadn't lost her touch.