Chapter 23: My Place
Once I let Blaise in, it took me a good twenty minutes to convince them not to arrest or murder Lucius Malfoy. (I think I was also convincing Draco to a degree.) I had to break out tea and biscuits to adequately distract them all.
With a mouth full of biscuit, Blaise asked something unintelligible. Upon my admonishment, he swallowed and asked, "Are you closer to finding Malfoy? Is this American helping you?"
Delicately taking a sip and crossing his legs, in his most feminine (and American) voice, he said, "I'm determined to help Hermione however I can."
"That's Draco."
Blaise choked on his seventh biscuit while Harry spat tea on my rug.
Harry was the first to recover. "Polyjuice Potion?"
"Naturally."
Blaise shook an accusing finger at Draco. "I heard you ask her who I was, you git."
"Draco lost his memory," I said, trying to find the simplest way to explain the whole situation. "I've been working on retrieving it, but so far he's only remembered some odd bits and pieces. He mostly remembers how certain people made him feel."
"Is that why he wanted to go to his funeral?" Harry asked, pushing his glasses up. "To jog his memory?"
"No, he's just an arrogant git," I said with a small smile. "He just wanted to see everyone fawn over him."
"You wound me with your accuracy," Draco said, placing his hands on his chest. "But if I remember right, you're Harry Potter, ridiculously famous, savior of the world and whatnot. You're Blaise Zucchini? We're friends or something?"
Blaise's indignant gasp could be heard for miles. "How dare you, Draco Malfoy. You dare insult the Zabini name after wearing the worst outfit I've ever seen to a funeral?"
Draco launched himself to his feet. "You didn't see the other options," he hissed.
The two Slytherins looked ready to attack each other at the drop of a hat, but I simply groaned. "You're both pretty, ladies. Now can we focus on the real problems?"
"But this is more fun to talk about," Blaise pouted.
"Oh Merlin, it's exhausting just to have the two of you in the same room," I said. "Harry, please say something sensible before they drive me mad."
"I'm still wrapping my mind about Hazel actually being Malfoy," Harry said frankly. "I figured it would take a bit longer to actually find him."
"So did I."
After Draco and Blaise finally calmed down a bit, I explained everything that had gone on in Pocatello. The telling took quite a while because I was frequently interrupted with questions. Draco would occasionally add his piece of the story, but more often than not he had questions as well.
Blaise looked frustrated. "I'm sorry, but I don't fully accept that this is Draco Malfoy. Draco would never intentionally reveal that he didn't have important information. Revelio."
With a wave of Blaise's wand, Hazel's appearance melted away to reveal Draco Malfoy looking righteously offended. "How dare you question my moral integrity?"
"You don't even remember if you have moral integrity," I said, beyond the point of exasperation. "Draco has remembered a few details, we're making progress. I'm hoping that he might remember something that will help us against the Death Eaters. However, the most important thing is that Draco Malfoy is alive and safe. That was always the main goal, so I think a celebration is in order."
Draco looked surprised, but he didn't question it as I led all three men to the dining room to crack open a bottle of Firewhiskey.
The four of us laughed and chatted for hours, and the boys continued when I started preparing dinner. I was content to listen to Harry and Blaise regale Draco with memories from our collective days at Hogwarts, only slightly embellished.
I knew how horrid Draco had been as well as anyone. Harry and I had both experienced it firsthand. But Harry spoke lightly, telling stories like Draco being turned into a ferret, or about their ridiculous Quidditch rivalry. I watched with pride, impressed with the man Harry had grown up to be.
This continued until I set dinner on the table while Harry made quick work of setting out plates and forks.
"It looks great, Hermione," Draco said with a small smile.
Blaise snorted. "Jeez Hermione, did you put the whole rosemary bush on this chicken?"
"How are you enjoying your free meal, Zabini?" Harry asked.
"Point taken," Blaise said. "Our conversation today has me curious, Granger. We Slytherins always had some grand scheme in the works. Hogwarts would've been incredibly boring without it. How did you two not go mad with all of your rule-following?"
I traded glances with Harry. "Does anyone actually believe we followed the rules?" he asked.
"That does seem to be the public perception," I said. "But from what you told me the Slytherin common room seems much less lively than ours."
"Good one, Granger, but no one outside of the Slytherin House has set foot in our common room for decades, not even the Headmaster," Blaise said.
"No one that didn't look like a Slytherin," Harry said suggestively. "But no one expects second-years to have access to Polyjuice potion. Your common room is a bit depressing."
Blaise choked on his pumpkin juice. "You did not. Did you bribe someone to smuggle it in for you?"
"No, Hermione made it in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," Harry said proudly. "She stole the ingredients right from Snape's own store."
"As a second-year?" Blaise demanded. "Granger, I knew you were devious, but that is positively Slytherin of you. I didn't know you had it in you."
Draco was staring at me. "You made Polyjuice potion at twelve years old? There are adult wizards that can't make it."
"The true marvel is that Harry and Ron drank the stuff. Prepared wrong it's basically poison," I said lightly. "But I suppose we didn't have schemes so much as harebrained plans. We mostly spent our time trying not to die."
"We snuck out a lot," Harry recalled.
"Like when we visited that acromantula family with Hagrid," I said. "And then we almost got eaten by them."
"The year after we almost got eaten by Lupin when he was a werewolf." Harry thought a moment. "I think we almost got eaten every year we were in school."
"Sometimes it was just you, though," I reminded him. "The Hungarian Horntail was all yours. Although some years we almost got eaten multiple times."
We both thought deeply about this until Blaise exclaimed, "Merlin, your lives are twisted. How are you two alive? Do you have any fun memories?"
Harry scratched his head. "Ron and I saved Hermione from that troll."
"I think he means memories where no one was about to die," I told Harry gently. "And I can't think of a single thing. But we had loads of fun once the war was over."
"Lasertag was my favorite," Harry said with a fond smile. "It's a Muggle game that you two should try one day."
Blaise sniffed. "Forgive me if I hesitate to trust your sense of 'fun.'"
"I would try it," Draco said, simply to egg Blaise on.
"Merlin's beard, is there no sense of self-preservation at this table? I can feel my lifespan dwindling as I sit here," Blaise complained.
"You forget, I was present for most of your time at university. You don't have a very strong sense of self-preservation given the right situations," I teased.
Blaise glared at me. "You better stop there, Granger, or this conversation will prove detrimental to both of us."
We laughed the rest of the night until I kicked Harry and Blaise about (after swearing them to total secrecy). Draco still sat at the table, zoning out a little.
I cleared all of the dishes away with a wave of my wand and looked at Draco, concerned. "Is everything okay?"
He glanced up, startled. "I was just… thinking."
"About?" I prompted.
He dropped his silver eyes to where his fingers were fiddling with the tablecloth. He hesitated before asking, "Is it always like this? Your dinners with friends and family, I mean
I didn't quite see what he was getting at. Keeping my voice light, I said, "Oh, sometimes they get a bit violent. Dinner at the Weasleys' often ends in food fights the second Molly turns her back."
"But… the laughter? Everyone actually wants to be there and listen to each other?" Draco asked, finally meeting my eyes.
I realized what he was getting at, and his expression broke my heart. "Draco," I said softly.
"I just…" Draco laughed, but it caught in his throat. "I remembered a few things during dinner, things like dinners at Hogwarts, or with my parents. I can say with almost complete surety that I've never had a dinner like this before. If we did talk or laugh it was at someone else's misfortune."
"It is hard," I acknowledged. "Finding somewhere you feel you belong is an ordeal. And as we grow, I think sometimes we have to find new places to blong. My place and my people were kind of pushed on me. There are only so many times you can almost die together before you start sticking together."
We stared intently into each other's eyes. I felt him place his hand on mine, warm and callused. When had we gotten so close?
"I think I'm finally starting to find my place," he whispered, leaning forward. I unconsciously leaned forward too, closer and-
"Granger, I forgot to ask," Blaise called from the front room of the house, opening the front door with a crash. Draco and I jerked apart, and there were at least two meters between us by the time Blaise wandered into the dining room.
"What did you forget?" I asked, wondering if I should be cursing him or thanking him.
"When will you be back in for work? Doing your reports is exhausting," Blaise said dramatically.
"I'll be back in three more days," I said, my voice a bit shaky. "Now get home before I drag you there myself."
After Blaise left, I couldn't force myself to meet Draco's eyes. Staring at my feet, I said, "Well, I'm exhausted, goodnight."
With that, I barricaded myself in my room and spent a sleepless night trying to understand my emotions.
A/N: Sorry about the longer wait on this chapter, work has been really hectic lately. As always let me know what you think, this is an experiment to improve my writing. As I typed it up I noticed that this chapter was really heavy on dialogue. Do you all think it's too much dialogue? And do you think that the plot is moving too slowly? There are a lot of things about writing that I'm still figuring out, and I appreciate every comment immensely. I love getting suggestions to work on, but even just knowing that people are still reading is incredibly helpful to me. It lets me know that I'm doing something right, at least.
Thanks for reading! I'm going to be getting ready to move back to college pretty soon, so I can't say when to expect the next chapter. Have a great summer!
