Chapter 4-Unimaginable laughter.

Over the next few weeks they fell into a comfortable routine. Just before dusk Draco would make his way into the walled garden of 12 Grimmauld Place and when she heard the garden door close behind him Hermione would leave to join him. They didn't talk much at first but as the days passed and the weather began to hold an autumnal chill their conversations became warmer, pleasanter and more entertaining. Finally Hermione found that she looked forward to their conversations.

Ron didn't understand, he resented Hermione spending time with Malfoy but when Hermione had explained that 'Draco' needed company because he was little better than a prisoner and suggested that Ron join them in the garden Ron had gone ballistic.

"Why don't you join us Ron? I think you will find that Draco isn't as bad as you think," Hermione suggested.

"Draco? Since when has it been Draco?" Ron demanded his temper clearly rising, "Do you remember what he did to you, to us?"

"Yes, but I think he has changed you should give him a chance," Hermione pleaded, "he hasn't uttered an unkind word since he arrived…" Ron did not allow her to finish.

"Of course he hasn't he isn't an idiot, he can be charming to suit his own ends, that doesn't mean he has changed, he's playing you Hermione can't you see that?"

If there was one think that Hermione could not abide, a flaw in her character, it was the implication that she was being stupid, being played for a fool. She stared a Ron for a long moment, calmed herself before she said something she might regret and responded;

"No Ron I can't." With that statement Hermione walked away effectively signaling an end to their conversation. She left Ron to simmer knowing that he would calm down soon enough. She knew that Draco was safely ensconced in his room so she went to read in the library until Ron calmed himself.

It was some hours later before Ron came to apologise, "I just don't like you being with him," Ron told her, "I don't trust him."

"I know," Hermione conceded comfortingly, "but it would be inhuman to leave him with no conversation, no human contact, he is not, after all, a prisoner here he is more," she paused to find the right words, "a refugee. I can't in all consciences treat him badly. You might not credit it Ron but he has suffered already, what he experienced may have caused terrible psychological damage and I will not be responsible for creating another Dark Wizard if I there is anything I can do to prevent it."

"You think him another You-Know-Who? Don't be daft," Ron scoffed at the notion.

"Scoff all you want Ronald but who knows what he might become, despite your dismissal he is a powerful wizard and what he might do if he does not heal..." Hermione didn't finish but shivered as if the prospect of what she had suggested terrified her.

Ron said nothing, instead he nodded sullenly indicating that he accepted what Hermione said but he didn't need to like it. When Hermione left the library to joined Draco on the Lutyen's bench late that afternoon it was in the knowledge that, whilst Ron might not like her talking to Draco, he would tolerate it-because it was the right thing to do.

It was already dark as she approached the bench; the moon was high in the sky kissing the scene with dappled slivers of light. Draco seemed lost in his own thoughts; apparently unaware that she was there, his head was bowed his fine blond hair had fallen forward across the upper part of his face. It gleamed like burnished steel and for a moment she wondered if it would feel like silk to touch. The snapping of a fallen twig beneath her boot brought Draco out of his reverie. His eyes rose before his head and her heart stuttered to see his eyes smile when he saw her. He smiled that genuine breathtaking smile. Hermione was momentarily breathless that he would smile like that merely because he had seen her. Did she have that power over him? It thrilled her to think that she might be the source of a small token of his pleasure and happiness in this dismissal place.

"I thought you weren't coming," he said breaking the spell that seemed to have weaved its way around them.

"Sorry, I was reading, I didn't hear you come outside," she explained by way of apology.

"What were you reading?" he asked genuinely interested.

"The 'Earthsea Trilogy' by a famous muggle Science Fiction writer called Ursula Le Guin it was a favourite when I was younger and I wanted to read it again to see why I remembered it so fondly," she told him.

Draco watched her face as she spoke with passion and enthusiastically of something she loved. Her face seemed to glow with an inner radiance he didn't think he had ever seen before, it made her look... beautiful. He didn't have the slightest clue what Science Fiction was but he wanted to ask her, he wanted to see that passion flame again on her face as she shared with him something she loved.

"So what did you discover?" he finally asked.

"Well it's about a young wizard who fights against evil so I suppose I was naturally drawn to the subject."

Draco scoffed, "and I suppose he has a lightening bolt scar on his forehead."

Hermione smiled and cocked her head to one side as if a thought suddenly disturbed her.

"No, I always imagined he was blond," she paused for a moment, "perhaps that was the influence of the cover illustration."

In truth Hermione couldn't think why in her mind's eye Ged was blond with eyes the colour of the ocean in winter.

"I always knew I had heroic good looks," Draco chuckled, a good humoured grin on his face. Hermione looked at him unconvinced. "What?" Draco questioned, " Is it the heroic or the good looks that you doubt?"

"Neither." She told him as she finally gave in to the laughter that bubbled inside her at the notion of Malfoy as some type of matinee hero. Her laughter must have been infectious, soon Draco was laughing at his own idiocy. It was a self-deprecating humour that she would not have expected of him. His laughter would have been unimaginable only a matter of months before and she felt warm inside when she heard it. It was a beautiful, captivating sound and she wished she could hear him laugh more often.

A/N please review