Chapter 9

(Couple of days later)

"It tastes good."

"Um..no, thank you."

"You should try it."

"Mother, try it. It's good."

"Alright, Thank you."

I was listening to my mother try and convince Narcissa to try the banana ships she had made earlier. Malfoy had tried them and had stayed near them this whole time. Nott was outside near the riverbank reading a book I had lent him. Snape had gone with Kingsley and Remus while Teddy stayed with his grandma.

All morning, my mother had tried to engage Narcissa in conversation. At the moment, she was trying to let Narcissa try new things.

It was a sight I'd never thought I'd see. Ever.

I was waiting on Neville to get here any second.

I had converted the garden shed into a makeshift room for my therapy sessions. I didn't think they would want to do it in a bedroom near other people.

The lone window in the small building had a perfect view of the willow tree. It was the ideal place to hold such conversations.

I had expanded it the inside, just like the tent I had stayed in all those months ago. It was where I would feel comfortable to be in if I were the one baring my soul.

The floo opened, and Neville stepped in.

I was surprised to note how tall he'd gotten.

In the last year, Neville had grown a foot taller than Harry. He was almost as tall as Snape.

He was still living with his grandmother. They had his parents brought home since they didn't want them to stay in the hospital. Neville had started to work under one of the healers that had been taking care of his parents so that he could take over. They hadn't asked him to return to Hogwarts, so now he was an apprentice healer for now.

I knew he would thrive in this new goal. It was perfect for him.

"Hermione," he said as he drew me into a tight hug. The scent of parchment paper and citrus filled my nose.

I had always liked Neville. He'd always been a gentle and steady person in my life. But people always missed the hint of steel under all the softness.

"Hey, Nev," I said, smiling even as a part of me wanted to pull away from the close contact.

He let go of me, and I saw him stiffen a bit.

I turned around to see Malfoy standing near the kitchen door. He was staring at both of us. He nodded once and walked outside.

"I had forgotten that they were living here now," Neville said as he handed me a paper bag. I had asked him to give me monthly reports on his parents so I could send them to Viktor.

Neville didn't know why I was asking for them, and I didn't want to raise false hope for him. False hope right now would be damaging for somebody that was trying their hardest to move on.

We passed by the kitchen where Mum waved at him while Narcissa just nodded at us. We headed outside and saw Nott reading against a tree while Malfoy skipped rocks on the water.

It was one of those rare days where it wasn't raining and also wasn't cloudy. It was cold but not unbearably so.

Nott put his book down to stare at us. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. His face was so blank. But after days of living with him, I knew there was more to that blank stare.

I wasn't so sure about Malfoy. That was more complicated.

I looked away and opened the door to the improved shed as I waved for Neville to go in first. He stepped through, and I followed him in. Before I closed the door, I saw Malfoy stop mid-throw and turn to look at me.

His face shone brightly from the reflection of the water, amplifying the cool blank look on his face.

I closed the door, holding his gaze until the last second.

Turning around, I went over to the large armchair near the window, and he sat down grandfather chair against the wall. The room was big enough for several chairs, a table, and a large shelf with books and two boxes containing potions.

"I honestly didn't need to talk about anything. I just felt like I need to say something once to somebody." Neville declared as he crossed one leg onto the other. He gazed down at his hands as he gathered his thoughts.

I waited for him to speak. It could be the simplest of things that could become a heavy burden.

The willow tree outside drew my attention as I waited for him to speak.

I couldn't see Nott nor Malfoy from here, but I could faintly hear the sound of water splashing and low voices talking.

"I think I mostly agreed to this since most of them hadn't wanted to talk to you. I did that at Hogwarts, you know, during the past year. It was hard to attend school by force. We had to use unforgivable on the younger ones. If we decided to go against them, the consequences would be painful. On our first day back, the first lesson took place. Seventh and Sixth years on one side and Fifth and Fourth years on the opposite side. The younger ones in the middle." he said as he brought his hands to his face.

He rubbed his eyes for a bit before continuing, "The Carrows were the new 'teachers' for two subjects, but all they wanted us to do was use unforgivable curses and Dark magic in general. They had ordered us to use Imperio on the younger students. Crabbe and Goyle didn't hesitate in doing so. Most of the Slytherins did it, and some Ravenclaws too. Those who didn't obey would be cursed at by the Carrow's."

My heart was pounding faster and harder to the point where it became hard to breathe. The picture Neville painted with his words was hard to stomach.

Because I knew what it was like to be the one tortured.

They had suffered as well. I'd always thought in the back of my mind how easy it'd been for Neville and the others to attend school.

How naive. It made me feel guilty for ever having thought that way.

How wrong I had been.

"I refused every time, and after a while, they didn't ask and just tortured me and Ginny on the spot," he sighed as he shifted in his chair, "I fought back, but it only landed me in detention with them. I tried saving any student I saw, but it was hard with the Slytherins at our backs. That's when we started using the Room of Requirement. After a while, nobody wanted to leave the room. Malfoy, Parkinson, Nott, Greengrass, and Zabini hadn't done anything since they were never around. I honestly didn't see them half of the time, so I can't be sure if they had done anything."

I didn't realize that I had been holding my breath when he mentioned Malfoy and Nott, but I slowly let go of my breath.

"What was the worst thing you saw?" I asked as I reached for the teapot.

My mother had prepared it ahead of time for this very reason. Medicinal tea that would calm nerves was the best option to have.

I handed him the cup.

He murmured, "Thank you," and sipped it carefully.

His eyes widened as he swallowed, "It's sweet."

I smiled, lifting my cup to take a sip, "I know many things, Neville. The perks to people not noticing me since I'm a bit plain. People notice the beauty first, leaving me, who blends easily into the background, to observe. Of course, now isn't the same since I'm 'famous' or whatever. But before all this, I'd observe many people, watching as they gave away many tales. My love for books gave me opportunities to hide behind them."

His eyes widened.

"We can't hide anything from you, can we? You're not plain, Hermione. I always thought that you were pretty. Especially your hair. It was always bouncing all over the place, but it was wild in its way. I had a crush on you third year and even our fourth year," he said with a blush chasing away the paleness from before.

I gasped, "No way!"

He chuckled at my surprised face, "Yeah, I did. I was going to ask you to the Yule Ball, but I figured that Harry or Ron would ask you first. That's why nobody wanted to ask you. Everybody just assumed that one of them would take you."

His smile slowly withered as he remembered my previous question, "Back to the original topic, the worst thing I saw was-"

After taking Neville back inside so that he could floo home, I went upstairs to my room to expand my bed since the full moon was tonight and Teddy was staying over.

I cleaned up a bit before heading back downstairs. I slipped my jumper off to lay on the couch, leaving me in Harry's torn shirt. I had kept many of Harry's and Ron's shirts since I had stashed a good amount of them in my beaded bag.

Those habits would take time to erase.

I walked into the kitchen to see all three men helping my mother cook. For a moment, I thought I was dreaming, but I pinched myself.

"I've got this. Go over there and cut the chicken. Theo, dear, you will break the bowl if you do it so hard."

"Sorry."

"Mrs Granger, I do believe that the mash-"

"They still need two more minutes."

I stared at them in disbelief. My mother was ordering them to do stuff, and they were listening to her.

The image was so hilarious. A small woman barely above five feet tall was ordering a trio of giants to do as she pleased.

Nott was staring hard at the rice he was mixing. The sweat on his forhead showed just how hard he was trying.

Malfoy was hesitant to touch anything as he stood by my mother. It reminded me of a duckling following its mother around.

My mother handed him some veggies, telling him to wash and cut them. Malfoy frowned but still took the handful of veggies. He looked confused as to why he was even listening to her.

Snape was smashing more potatoes but was silent and stiff as he did so.

"She knows how to handle them." Narcissa's voice said from behind me.

I turned around.

Narcissa was a few feet away from me, inspecting the books on the floating shelve.

Half of those books were by muggle writers, and some were old Hogwarts books. All books showed wear since I'd read them many times.

Narcissa raised her hand and pulled out the book "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" by John Le Carre. It was an old spy novel my father used to love. She looked down at the battered book.

She put it back and was about to speak when the floo opened.

Remus came in with Teddy fast asleep in his arms.

"Hey, mione- Mrs Malfoy. Hello," he said somewhat awkwardly. Teddy stirred for a bit before fully waking up. He noticed his father first and smacked his chubby hand on his father's cheek.

I smiled as Narcissa gasped softly.

Remus just laughed out loud. "Little Bugger keeps remembering that I didn't give him some candy earlier, so he smacks me every chance he gets."

Teddy was about to smack him again when he stopped and whipped his little head around. He opened his mouth and squealed when he saw me.

He raised his chubby arms towards me.

A warm feeling filled my body at his childish display of affection. I could never deny him anything. And I had a feeling he knew that. The sneaky child that he was.

I walked over and plucked him out of his father's arms. He flashed her a not-so-gummy smile.

"Hey, handsome baby," I said as I nuzzled him. Remus stepped back into the floo so Teddy wouldn't see him leave.

Sometimes Teddy would throw a tantrum when his father would leave. Other times he'd forget his father was even in the room.

I turned around when I heard Narcissa come up behind me. Teddy was blowing bubbles and making random noises. He ceased when he saw Narcissa approaching. She stopped a couple of feet away from me. I glanced past her to see Malfoy striding up behind his mother.

Teddy switched his hair colour to match Narcissa's, with black on top and white blond on the bottom. He looked like a dalmatian. Malfoy leaned around his mother to stare at Teddy.

"He's a metamorphmagus, isn't he? Just like..."

"Like his mother was. He got that from his mother. Although we haven't seen him change his features yet." I said.

Malfoy looked at Teddy before glancing away but not before I saw the guilt shadowing his eyes.

Narcissa wrung her hands for a bit before holding them out. "May I?"

I tried not to let the surprise show on my face as I slowly handed the child to her.

Teddy didn't fuss.

He just stared at her calmly. But that could change in an instant.

I knew that she didn't talk to her sister but looking at her holding Teddy gave me hope that one day this cold woman would open up her heart to Teddy.

Teddy Lupin was the last piece of love that Tonks had left behind.

Everybody could change, I thought, as I looked at Narcissa and then at Malfoy.

They had to want to change.

Otherwise, they'd be left behind.

I'm going through every chapter and editing some things. I'm posting this story to Ao3.

Some things will be changed or better written since I wrote this without editing.

Thank you for reading.

Oct 2, 2022

Vanee/GremlinV