Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, therefore I do not own Harry Potter
A/N: I haven't disappeared off the face of the earth, and I haven't stopped working on this fic I promise! I did have to take a very long break from writing due to a combination of writers block and real life. But now I think I've managed to get things under control and can return to working on this fic. I have recently been having lots of good ideas for how to move the plot along, so I look forward to making them work and writing more. Thank you so much to everyone for being so patient, and as always a huge thanks and round of applause to my wonderful reviewers!
lpark000, Mallory, Katie Weasley – Thank you so much for your support! I'm really glad that you like my fics, and I hope you continue to enjoy this one!
CrazyWriter330, Blondie091, blueeyedchibi, mAlFoYiSaWeSoMe, TSKers, Sunflower18, dreamingstar213, Piper, zuvalupa, 13BlacKAnGELs – I'm so sorry for the long wait, but I hope this chapter is worth it, and I'll try to update faster next time. Thank you for the reviews!
comedy gal - hey! Nice to hear from you again. That's so cool that you're from Australia, as I'm sure you could tell from the chapter, I absolutely love Sydney and Cairns, and basically the entire country lol. Anyway, thanks for the review!
Darkangelxx – thank you! I'm very happy that you think I've kept Draco in character, cause I think maintaining the characters is really important when writing a D/Hr fic, so it's cool to know I've succeeded in that. Hope you like this chapter!
Steelo – yeah it's really tough for her with all the stuff she's got to deal with, sooner or later you would think something would have to snap… Thanks for the review!
Pegasusbabi – you're definitely onto something about who's spying on Draco, and I can't decide what Michael's gonna do. So I guess we'll all have to see when I figure it out! Thanks for the review!
the mask he wears – I'm sorry to hear your computer crashed too, I know how much it sucks. I'm glad thank you got your story rewritten though :o) Thanks for the review!
Finally, after much too long a wait...chapter 7!
Chapter 7: Surprises and Disappointments
"Master Draco! Master Draco wake up sir!"
Draco scrunched up his face at the annoying high pitched cries reaching his ears, it was Saturday morning and he was in no mood to be awoken by a screeching house-elf. He rolled over and held a pillow over his head to block out the sound.
Mimi frowned, she needed to wake up her Master, but she did not want to be punished for angering him. She gulped as she made a very difficult decision. She climbed up on the bed and poked Draco in the side over and over while at the same time encouraging him to wake up. "Master Draco please wake up, Master's mum is home sir, and Madam is looking for you!"
Draco swatted Mimi's hand away and groaned he hadn't listened to a word she'd said. He pushed himself up and turned to Mimi with half open eyes and a grumpy frown, "what?"
"Madam Narcissa is home sir, and Madam is wanting to see you!" Mimi squeaked, and leapt off the bed, clearly terrified of being punished.
"What!" Draco fully woke all of a sudden, "what is she doing home?"
"She is returned from France sir, and she is sending Mimi to get you sir. Mimi is sorry for waking you up, but Madam ordered Mimi sir!" Mimi trembled in her place and faced towards the ground.
Draco was too stunned that his mother was home to pay any attention to the house-elf's frightened behavior. He glanced at the clock by his desk, it was just about 10:30; Narcissa would surely wonder what Draco was still doing in bed at this hour. "Mimi, go tell Mother I'll be down in a moment."
"Yes Master Draco sir!" Mimi scampered out of his room before he decided to punish her, and rushed down the stairs to carry out her master's order.
Draco meanwhile dressed in record time, and only slowed in order to assure that his hair was perfectly in place before he trekked down to find his mother. Hair might not be of particular importance to most people, but to the Malfoys it was vital that it be perfect looking at all times. On his way through the Manor, several thoughts passed through Draco's head. First were the rebellious ones which prepared themselves for an argument should Narcissa scold him for sleeping in. After all, he was 18, it was his life and he could do whatever he pleased, including sleep late. After that thought however, weightier thoughts took precedence; Draco realized that he could not remember the last time he had seen his mother, and though she wasn't as affectionate or loving as some mothers tended to be, he did care for her, and he knew she cared for him.
Draco saw Narcissa standing in the entryway as he reached the top of the stairs. She stood tall and proud, her long blonde hair was pinned up in an elegant bun. She wore a classy set of midnight blue robes, which were much more formal than most women would wear even for special occasions; however that sort of attire was typical for Narcissa, so it was nothing special for Draco to see. She smiled at him, revealing her perfect peal white teeth, "Draco darling, it's wonderful to see you again!"
"Mum!" Draco exclaimed with a bit of exaggeration "what are you doing home so unexpectedly?"
"Now Draco," chided Narcissa with a light laugh and a wave of her hand, "is it a crime for a mother to wish to surprise her son after being away from him so long?"
"Of course not," answered Draco with a grin. He stepped forward and they gave each other a brief hug along with a small kiss on each cheek.
Narcissa smiled at her son and then stepped back to look him over, "Look at you! You seem to be taking care of yourself well," she commented after a moment.
"Yes," Draco nodded.
"Aside from sleeping in much too late of course."
Draco chose to respond to his mother's comment with just a roll of his eyes.
Narcissa nodded as if he had agreed with her. "Mimi!" she called.
Mimi came racing into the room, bowing deeply once she entered, "Yes Madam?"
"Fetch Draco and I some tea, and prepare some fruit for Draco's breakfast."
"Yes Madam!" Mimi squeaked and dashed away towards the kitchen.
Draco opened his mouth to argue that he would much prefer some bacon and eggs, but before he could get a word out, Mimi was gone. Instead he just sighed and followed Narcissa over to the sitting area.
Narcissa seated herself elegantly in a high-backed armchair while Draco flopped down into the couch. "Now Draco, straighten up. You were not raised to slouch around like a slug."
Draco made sure he huffed loud enough for his mother to hear his annoyance with her orders, but nevertheless he straightened up so that he was sitting in the rigid manner he had been taught to all his life. Whether Narcissa heard Draco huffing, she made no indication of it, so they both let it go.
"So Mother," Draco began after a rather lengthy pause, "how was France?"
"Just lovely dear just lovely," smiled Narcissa, "first I toured the countryside, and after that I spent quite a bit of time with my good friend Marie. She happened to be having a family reunion while I was visiting, so I had the pleasure of meeting several of her relatives."
"Is that so?" drawled Draco. He was already resisting the urge to slump back in the couch, and he could tell that he was in for a long boring conversation. He mentally prepared himself for a full day of boring stories about someone else's family of which he cared little, and would remember even less.
"Yes," Narcissa brightened and leaned forward in her chair indicating that she was eager to relay whatever exciting piece of gossip she had discovered.
However, her story was then interrupted by the appearance of two trays, one bearing a tea set, and the other a large plate of fruit, which seemed to have floated into the room on their own accord. Mimi and another house-elf lowered the trays to the table and gazed up at Draco. "Is you wanting anything else Master?" Mimi squeaked in a quiet voice, as though she were afraid speaking too loudly would harm Narcissa's delicate ears.
Again Draco opened his mouth to order the breakfast he wanted, but again Narcissa beat him to the punch, "no that will be all." She sent an arrogant glare down her nose at the elves and shooed them away with an impatient wave of her hand. The elves squeaked and stumbled over themselves as they rushed to get out of the room.
Draco frowned at his mother; it wasn't as though he cared about how she spoke to the house-elves, it was that she was already stealing control of his own decisions away from him. She had just arrived and already he felt as though she was treating him like a child, instead of respecting him like the man he was.
Narcissa meanwhile prepared herself a cup of tea and began speaking without once glancing up at Draco. "As I was saying, at the reunion, Marie was kind enough to introduce me to her niece, Adrienne who is just the same age as you."
Draco paused with an orange slice halfway to his mouth, he already didn't like where this conversation was going. But as he did not want to make a big deal out of what was at the moment nothing, he chose to hold his tongue.
Narcissa paused to take a sip of tea while at the same time lifting her eyes towards Draco. When she set her cup back down, Draco saw a curious smile beginning to form at the corner of her lips. He definitely did not like the look of that. "She is a very beautiful girl Draco," Narcissa continue, this time maintaining relentless eye contact with her son. "She has the most gorgeous raven hair, and her family is naturally very well connected and well to do."
Draco did not know what to say, so to spare himself the trouble, he stuffed a large piece of melon into his mouth and chewed it very slowly.
Narcissa meanwhile let out a small chuckle and took another sip of her tea. "Adrienne was very interested in hearing all about you of course."
Draco swallowed everything in his mouth, which felt rather painful going down his throat.
Narcissa chose to remain ignorant of her son's subtle actions, "And when she mentioned that she would love to meet you, I took the opportunity to inviting her to the Manor next week."
Draco, who had just begun swallowing a strawberry, began to choke when he heard that pronouncement. After a good couple minutes in which he spent coughing, he managed to swallow the strawberry, and turned to glare at his mother.
Narcissa meanwhile, had remained completely impassive throughout Draco's choking fit and was now contentedly sipping her tea once more.
Draco stood up indignantly, "Mother how could you do such a thing? I have a girlfriend, and I am not interested in meeting any snobby French girls that you see fit to set me up with!"
"Why Draco I didn't know you were dating anyone, who is she?" Narcissa seemed totally unperturbed by Draco's reaction.
"The same girl I've been dating since sixth year Mother, remember, Hermione."
Narcissa frowned as set her cup back on the tray, "You mean that muggleborn girl from Hogwarts?"
Draco rolled his eyes, and did his best to overlook the way his mother had said the word muggleborn, "Yes Mother, her name is Hermione. I've only been dating her for nearly two years, what makes you think I would stop now?"
"Well, I just assumed that whole muggleborn phase was something you were doing to rebel against your Father."
Draco glared at his mother; his temper was beginning to boil. "Muggleborn phase!" he spat. "It's not a phase Mum! Hermione and I love each other, and nothing you can do, and no one you can introduce me to is going to change that! Besides, I thought you were against all of Lucius' muggleborn hating attitudes."
Narcissa sat viewing her fuming son curiously as if trying to make a decision, finally she spoke. "I was against my only son endangering his life by becoming a Death Eater. However, that does not mean I am happy about you continuing a relationship with a muggleborn now that Lucius is gone."
Draco stood flabbergasted and glaring at his mother. "Well Mother, I am sorry, but I do not care whether my relationship with Hermione makes you happy or not, I love her and she loves me, and when she comes over tonight, I hope you see that and show her the proper respect she deserves."
Narcissa gasped and stood up as well, "you allow her to enter this house!"
"Of course I do! She's my girlfriend! And she's coming over tonight at 6:00, we're going out to dinner and then she's spending the night."
Narcissa looked scandalized. "At least tell me that she is sleeping in one of the guest rooms."
Draco sneered, "No mother, she's not."
Narcissa's eyes flashed, she opened her mouth as if to speak but then seemed to think better of it and closed it again. Finally, after apparently going through some major internal deliberation, she spoke. Her tone was for the most part genial, but her face was livid, "come now Draco! Be reasonable! Don't you think it's time you left this silly muggleborn infatuation you've developed behind? Your father is gone now; you do not have to prove anything to him anymore."
Were the situation different, Draco might have considered his mother's tone calm, however in the present circumstance, he found her tone and words to be condescending; he felt as though she was mocking him. "I never dated Hermione to prove anything to Lucius or anyone else! I'm with Hermione because I love her," Narcissa made a noise of indignation to interrupt, but Draco refused to allow her to. "And you should be down on your knees thanking her because if it wasn't for Hermione then Lucius would still be here and I would be standing beside him in a circle of Death Eaters bowing to the Dark Lord right now! Hermione did what you could never do; she saved me from Lucius, and then she saved me again from the Dementor's Kiss, she is my everything and nothing you can do or say can change that!"
Narcissa's blue eyes turned to ice when Draco told her that Hermione had succeeded where she had failed. The idea that some woman, muggleborn pureblood or otherwise, was more important to her son than she was rocked her to the core. "How dare you disrespect me!" she growled Narcissa. "I am your mother, and nothing will ever change that, not even your little muggleborn!"
With that Narcissa swept out of the room and up the stairs, presumably to her room. Draco sneered at her retreating back, but was too enraged with her to speak so instead he stormed out of the house, slamming the door hard behind him. From the front porch, he apparated to the back of the house into the room full of outdoor supplies. He yanked his broom off the shelf, kicked the door open and flew off in a blur. He didn't slow down until the Manor was nothing more than a speck on the horizon.
Having his mother control what he ate and how he sat was one thing, but her interfering with his relationship with Hermione was unacceptable. Draco flew around for quite a while; in particular he did several nearly vertical dives which got his mind off his problems and his adrenaline racing. Finally after a particularly dangerous dive when he nearly collided into the ground, Draco leveled off, slowed down and took some time to think.
"She has no right to control what I do!" he confirmed to himself out loud. "And I won't let her talk down to Hermione!" he added after a moment. He would always stand by Hermione, but still, he did care for his mother, and deep down he wanted her and Hermione to get along. "I'll just have to make her see how wonderful Hermione is or else..."
Or else he didn't know what he would do yet, but it would be something drastic that was for sure. Draco continued flying for so long that he lost track of the time. But once he realized he was only flying in order to avoid talking to Narcissa, he forced himself to go home. Draco groaned as he eased his broom back towards the Manor. This wasn't going to be easy; Narcissa was every bit as stubborn as he was, although he had always felt that she had a more open mind than Lucius, so Draco held onto that little bit of hope that she would eventually see things his way.
- - - - - - - - - -
"Bye guys!" Hermione dashed out of Grimmauld Place, slamming the door behind her before either Harry or Ron could respond. She didn't have time to stop because she was already running way behind schedule.
It was Saturday, and things had been going well for the entire week. Hermione was getting better by the day at occlumency, and was now at the point where Kingsley could not see any of her thoughts, although it still cost her tremendous effort. She had been managing to juggle all her time commitments pretty well, and though she still felt like he was not quite satisfied with something Draco had not questioned or accused her of anything all week. They were getting along well and she was very thankful for that because her defenses were always weakest around him and she was not confident that she would be able to close her mind to him should he decide to probe into it.
The one thing she had fallen behind on was her Order task, she had planned to begin working on it that morning, but between not knowing where to start and not wanting to add more stress to her workload, she had in a very un-Hermione-like fashion, put it off. However, after sleeping late and allowing herself to get distracted by an exciting game of exploding snap between Harry and Ron she could put it off no longer. She was meeting Draco for dinner, then spending the night, so she had a very limited amount of time and plenty to get done.
Dumbledore had warned her that the Ministry was not the most secure place for information "there are spies everywhere" he had warned them all at a meeting earlier that week. So, rather than head to the Ministry, she went instead to the Wizarding Public Library and Hall of Records in London. She had to travel by muggle means because she was not quite certain what it looked like, and the last thing she wanted to do would be to apparate outside of it and startle any muggles passing by. She didn't allow herself pause to think until she was seated in a car of the Underground, and then she only stopped to think because it was unavoidable.
She began by looking over a wizarding map of London. She made sure not to let the muggles see it, just in case they noticed certain areas of the map changing color, or her current route moving in a golden dotted line across the paper. She took note of the stop she was looking for, and then reviewed where she had to go from there.
The underground came to a halt at the next stop, and more muggles stepped on board. It was getting too crowded to keep the map out without someone noticing, so Hermione hastily folded it up and returned it to her back pack. As she waited she closed her eyes and went over her plan for the day. 'Alright,' she said to herself. 'I'll start out in the magical creatures section and go from there.' She nodded to herself. Her only intention for the afternoon was to get as much info about the magical creature groups and whereabouts as possible. She could leave the concern for how to contact them for another day. She wasn't sure how long it would take her to find all the information she needed anyway, though since Dumbledore didn't already have it, she figured it would turn out being more difficult than it seemed.
She was so deep in thought that she nearly missed her stop. Luckily she glanced up just in time and managed to get off the train before the doors shut her in. She took a moment to go over the directions in her head, and then made her way out of the station up to the London street. There were muggles bustling all around, but none took any particular notice of the witch amongst them. It was times like this, when she was surrounded by muggles that she was most thankful for being a muggle-born because unlike many pure blooded witches and wizards, she knew how to blend right in. Hermione walked a long way down the street into a much less populated road. Here there was a large warehouse which looked like it should be condemned. Hermione looked to both sides of the street to be sure no muggles would see her before taking a breath and stepping through a seemingly locked door.
When she stepped through to the other side she was greeted by a cavernous hall, which was dimly lit and had a musty smell of old parchment. The room was filled with shelves of books, and Hermione could hear the sounds of people browsing through the books. On the back wall, there was a gigantic clock, Hermione gulped as the minute hand moved forward, it was as if the clock was taunting her by reminding her how little time she had. Directly in front of her, there was a desk with an elderly witch sitting and writing on a sheet of parchment. Hermione glanced to the side of the hall as she walked towards the witch, and she saw no less than ten hallways leading out of the main room most likely leading to more rooms filled with books Hermione decided.
She smiled at the old witch and whispered "excuse me" when she reached the desk. Though her voice was quiet as a whisper, the words echoed within the hall, and seemed to take an inordinately long time to fade away.
"Yes, how may I help you today dear?" The witch removed her spectacles from her nose as she turned her kind face to Hermione.
"I'm looking for some records on magical creatures," Hermione answered.
"I see, are you looking for any specific type of magical creature?"
Hermione paused, she could not tell the woman exactly what information she needed, but she didn't want to sound silly by answering no. "Not really, I'm actually doing a report about several types of magical creatures."
"Very well then, the records section on magical creatures is right over there, seventh door down that wall. We also have general reference books on many creatures here in the main library if you care too look. If you need any help, you may ask the witch or wizard attending that room, and if you cannot find them, you may always come out here and ask me."
"I'll do that, thank you very much!" Hermione smiled and then made her way to the seventh door like the witch had instructed.
Hermione took one step into the room and felt as though she had just entered the forbidden forest. The long bookshelves were as tall as trees, and the light from the windows and torches created long eerie shadows along the floor and bookshelves. Immediately Hermione found herself faced with a very real problem. On each the shelves were 'X's', the number of 'X's' on each shelf seemed to increase as she looked down the line of shelves, but other than that, there seemed to be no indication of how the books were organized. 'Great, how am I supposed to find anything when I don't even know where to start looking' she wondered as a feeling of exasperation hit her.
With no other idea as to how to begin, she took a step in between the two shelves which were directly in front of her. She instantly felt enveloped in darkness, and the shelves were so close together that it was rather uncomfortable. Taking slow steps, she made her way down the isle of books, she browsed the titles along either side of her as if she expected the information she needed to magically jump right out in front of her.
Alas, no such luck, she reached the opposite end of the shelves and was no closer to finding what she needed. The only thing she had found which was at all helpful was the books seemed to be organized alphabetically first by topic, and then by title. However, even that didn't entirely make sense because there seemed to be several topics missing, and she could not figure out why they were not there.
Hermione groaned, feeling that this task was going to take much longer than she had anticipated. She marched down another row of shelves, intending to ask the witch in the lobby for help. But when she reached the end of this row, she found herself face to face with a small desk upon which a large book, a stack of parchment and some small used quills were settled. Above the desk was a large poster with Roman Numerals listed vertically and types of magical creatures listed next to them. With a curious look, Hermione read a few lines which were written at the bottom of the poster;
If you do not know the Ministry rating of your desired magical creatures, please consult the index below.
"Oh!' gasped Hermione, suddenly understanding the meaning of the 'X's' on the shelves, as well as why some topics seemed to be missing in the shelf she had passed. Those creatures must have been a different Ministry rating.
Hermione removed the sheet of parchment Dumbledore had given her with the names of all the creature groups she needed to talk to. One by one, next to each name, she wrote down the Ministry classification. Hermione sighed when she finished her list, she had 18 different creatures to figure out how to get in contact with, many of which included multiple groups in different locations around Europe; this was going to take much longer than she'd hoped. She glanced down at her watch; she'd already been here for nearly an hour, which left her with at most three hours to find what she needed. After she left here, she had to stop off at home to drop off her information, get her things, and get ready before apparating to Draco's Manor for the night.
"Better get to it then," she said to herself as she made her way down the long line of shelves to the appropriate one.
- - - - - - - - - -
Hermione dropped her quill when she finally completed the section she was copying. She had been working so diligently that she completely lost track of time, even so she was only about a third of the way through the list. She had expected to be at least halfway done by the end of this afternoon, but clearly she would have to come two if not three more times to finish gathering all the necessary information.
She hadn't had trouble finding the records one she discovered how they were organized, but reading through them and making sure that she copied down everything correctly was time consuming. She wrote down everything Dumbledore had requested and then some. Dumbledore wanted information on how to contact the difference species so she took notes on greeting customs, behaviors to watch out for, etc. That was a lengthy process in itself, but she found that with some species, customs differed depending on where they were from. Since Dumbledore wanted to contact creatures from all over Europe, Hermione had to make sure that when there were variations, she copied all the correct information for each group within the species.
In addition to that, some species had been noted to have allied themselves with notable wizards in the past in response to wizarding conflicts while others had remained resolutely uninvolved. Hermione felt this sort of information was very valuable in that it would help give the Order a better idea of which creatures they should go to for help first, which were likely to be against them, and which were unlikely to join either side of the struggle.
Hermione meandered over to the appropriate shelf and returned the book. She then glanced down at her watch to see if she had enough time to go through one more book before she left for her date with Draco. Her heart nearly stopped and she had to do a double take when she saw the time displayed on her watch. She tapped at the face and shook her wrist, and then checked the time again. Surely it couldn't possibly be correct could it? But a second glance at the watch only served to add a sickening feeling of dread to her stomach. She stood frozen in shock watching the second hand charge ahead as it always did, the precious seconds ticking into the past lost forever. Finally she snapped out of it, and clutching onto the remote hope that her watch was wrong, she dashed to the door in order to check the large clock in the main room. But her heart dropped into her stomach when that clock revealed the same distressing hour that her watch had, it was 6:57, which means that she was already nearly an hour late for her date with Draco.
"Oh no oh no oh no," she muttered to herself in an unending string as she raced across the room to gather her notes. She stuffed everything into her bag, not caring the least bit if the sheets of parchment wrinkled or tore. She then shouldered the bag and charged out of the room as fast as she could. She didn't even bother to check whether or not the street was vacant of muggles before she disapparated. She reappeared outside of Grimmauld Place a moment later, thrust the door open and raced through the hall, and up the stairs.
"Hermione is that you?" came the voice of Ron from somewhere on the lower level.
"Yes" she cried back breathlessly. She dumped the contents out of her bag onto her bed, and fumbled around her room packing herself an overnight bag with clothes for the following day.
"Weren't you going over Malfoy's tonight?" this time it was Harry speaking, and he seemed to be shouting to her from the foot of the stairs.
"Yes! And I lost track of time and now I'm late!" answered Hermione as she changed into something more presentable. Originally she had planned on showering and taking some extra time to look pretty, but now she was just trying to get out the door as fast as she possibly could. She knew she probably looked a mess, but now it was nearing 7:20 and she didn't want to think of how angry Draco was going to be when she finally showed up.
"Bye guys I'll see you tomorrow night!" Hermione shouted to Harry and Ron as she raced down the stairs and back out the front door. From Grimmauld Place, she apparated to the front steps of the Manor where she finally paused to take a series of deep breaths. She ran her fingers through her hair in a vain attempt to straighten it out, and then she lifted her fist and knocked on the door. She held her breath awaiting Draco's reaction to her extreme and unexplainable tardiness. Oh how in the world was she going to explain this…
- - - - - - - - - -
Draco and Narcissa had spent most of the rest of the afternoon apart from each other. But at 5:30, knowing that Hermione would be arriving in half an hour, Draco sought Narcissa out to talk some sense into her. He finally found her in the conservatory, staring out at the grounds watching the sun set below the horizon. "Mother?" he spoke in a calm tone.
Narcissa turned to face him, her expression stern but for the most part unreadable.
Draco walked into the room and stopped a few feet away from her. "Mother Hermione will be here in half an hour and I would really appreciate it if I could introduce her to you. Then you can see for yourself how wonderful she is."
Narcissa remained silent, and Draco was beginning to loose his patience with her.
"Mother, I care about you, you know that, but I love Hermione. You're both important to me, and it's also important to me that you meet her. I think once you do you'll really like her."
Narcissa stared at her son; the emotions she was experience within were not showing on her face. She could not remember the last time she saw him express any emotion like he was now; it had not been since he was a young child. For the first time she saw her son for the man he was as opposed to the boy she had raised, her baby. He was going to do what he wanted no matter what she said, this she was sure of because both she and Lucius had been stubborn as well. Finally, she consented with a sigh, "very well Draco, I do not approve of this…match. However if it is so important to you, I will agree to meet her."
Draco smiled, "Thank you mother. She will be here at six, so just make sure you're somewhere nearby."
Narcissa nodded and returned her attention to the grounds outside the window.
Draco grinned to himself as he got ready in his room. He knew that Narcissa did not want to meet Hermione, but he was happy that she had agreed to anyway. He was sure that Hermione would be able to alter his mother's view of muggleborns just as she had changed his.
When 5:55 rolled around, both Draco and Narcissa were seated in the study. Narcissa glanced at the clock above the fireplace mantle every two seconds, for she felt that her son's girlfriend should have arrived by now. Yet she managed to keep her mouth shut until 6:05, "Should have been here by now shouldn't she?"
Draco, who had been unable to ignore Narcissa's frequent glances at the clock, looked a bit uncomfortable now. The last thing he needed to prove his point against Narcissa was for Hermione to be late. "Her roommates probably held her up," he answered quickly, while making a mental note to kill Potter and Weasley if indeed that had been the case. "I'm sure she'll be here any minute."
But the minutes ticked away, and Draco's discomfort increased with each passing minute, 'where is she?' he thought. Had Narcissa not been home, Draco would have been plagued with worries for Hermione's safety, for she was never late, however with his mother watching, hit thoughts turned to anger instead.
At 6:30, Narcissa's arrogant huffs, and haughty sighs drove him to the point where he could not sit still. Without a word he got up and began pacing around the entryway.
"Quite disrespectful for her to be this late without so much as an owl or quick stop through the floo," Narcissa commented in a snobbish tone.
Draco chose not to respond, mostly because he could think of nothing to say. He stopped pacing and looked towards the study when he heard the sharp click of Narcissa's heels on the floor.
"I, for one, cannot sit here all night waiting for some disrespectful muggleborn to finally have the decency to arrive. You deserve to be treated better than this Draco, much better. Someday soon I hope you realize that." Narcissa took several sharp steps away before stopping to say one last thing. "And Adrienne will still be arriving on Wednesday; perhaps she will remind you of how you ought to be respected by a woman."
Draco stared after Narcissa long after she departed an odd feeling of dejection and anger overcoming him, Draco strode back into the study and slumped down into the couch. It was now past 7, "where the hell is she?" he muttered aloud. As he sat there he couldn't help but mull over Narcissa's words about Hermione being disrespectful and how he deserved to be treated better. As much as a part of him wanted to defend Hermione, at the moment the majority of him felt that Narcissa had a point. Especially after all Draco had gone through the past two years, he deserved to be respected more than this, didn't he? Of course, anger breeds suspicion, so Draco's thoughts returned to the times when he had felt Hermione was hiding something from him. Before he felt that he had given her the benefit of the doubt, but now…well he'd see what she had to say and go from there.
At around half past seven, a knock at the door snapped Draco to attention, his face as cold and blank as stone, "Nice of you to finally show up," he spat before the door was even fully opened.
Hermione stepped inside and began talking immediately, "Draco I'm so sorry! I was working and I completely lost track of time!"
Hermione dropped her bag to the floor and stepped forward to kiss Draco but he backed away and headed out the door, "whatever let's just go," he muttered.
Hermione followed him crestfallen; she was in deeper trouble than she thought if Draco refused a kiss. "Draco please don't be mad at me," she begged.
"Humph," was Draco's only response before he grabbed her arm and apparated the both of them to the restaurant entrance. Without a word to Hermione, Draco stomped through the entrance to the witch at the front. "Table for two," he demanded.
The witch's cheerful smile faltered upon meeting Draco's icy glare, "yes umm, right this way please." She led them to a small table in a quiet part of the restaurant, handed them their menus and left, clearly eager to get away from Draco.
Draco sat silent and resolute behind his menu while Hermione sent him pleading looks. She knew that he was furious with her, but this cold silence was so unbearable and so reminiscent of the old Draco that she would have almost preferred seeing him fly into a violent rage. At least if he was yelling at her, she would know what he was thinking.
Hermione couldn't even concentrate on something as trivial as the menu because she was so distraught over Draco's behavior. She tried to read the words in front of her, but they might as well have been written in gibberish for all the good it did. She was drowning so deep in her thoughts that it took a very loud "Excuse me Miss!" from the waiter to get her attention and bring her back to reality.
"What?" she asked with a blank look.
"Are you ready to order?" the waiter repeated slowly and with an irritated edge as if he was speaking to a difficult child.
"Oh right, umm," she cast a hopeless glance at Draco. "I'll just have whatever he's having, and a glass of water."
"Very well, what can I get for you tonight sir?" the waiter turned to Draco.
Hermione watched Draco's mouth moving, but nothing except meaningless noises reached her ears. It didn't matter what he had ordered, she had lost her appetite anyway. Once the waiter had taken their menus, there was nothing blocking their view of each other save the small candle in the center of the table which was intended to promote a romantic atmosphere. Hermione gazed at Draco with wide and hopeful eyes, willing him to look at her. He could feel her gaze, but he refused to concede to her wishes, he was observing the other diners, determined to look anywhere except at her.
Their drinks came and still neither had uttered a word. Draco took a large swig of his fire whiskey, but Hermione did not even touch her water. Her throat was parched, but she couldn't have cared less. All she wanted to do was to end this terrible silence. "Draco please say something," she begged, a slight plea in her voice.
Finally he directed his gaze towards her, and Hermione instantly felt the temperature drop. "What would you like me to say?" He asked in a surprisingly calm voice.
"Anything," she insisted. "I know you're mad, so yell if you want, curse, scream I don't care just please say something!"
"I suppose I could do that," Draco shrugged. His cool calmness was very disturbing to Hermione. "But I passed the point of yelling sometime around 6:30. By 7 I decided that it's not worth it."
His words stung her deep, penetrating the very core of her heart. 'What wasn't worth it exactly?' she wondered. She frowned and could feel tears beginning to prickle at the corners of her eyes. "Please say you don't mean that Draco, please say you care, I love you with all my heart I swear to you I do. I was just so focused that I completely lost track of time. You know how I get when I'm working hard; I just…lose sense of everything else."
Draco now had his frown fixed directly at Hermione; he refused to lower his gaze, and hardly ever blinked. "I see, well what were you working so hard at then? What was so important that it caused you to be an hour and a half late without even having the decency to send a note or anything to let me know?" Draco's voice had steadily risen as he spoke, which told Hermione that a part of him was ready to burst. She didn't know how long it would be before something set him off, but she knew that sometime over the course of the evening he was going to explode. So for the second time that day, Hermione found herself counting the seconds tick by in horror.
"It was just a project that Kingsley has me working on for auror training," Hermione said in an off-hand manner, deciding that it wasn't so much of a lie. She was to report her progress with the task to Kingsley, so that was basically the same thing she told herself.
"Really?" Draco over-exaggeratedly feigned interest. "Are Potter and the Weasel working on it too? Or what about Michael?"
Hermione gasped indignantly and furrowed her brows at the mention of Michael. Draco knew she hated him, so why was he bringing him up now? "No our mentors gave us individual projects."
"I see," Draco continued in the same tone. Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of their dinners. It was a shame that neither of them had much of an appetite anymore because their food looked delicious. Draco lifted his utensils and cut himself a small slice of meat. "So tell me about this incredibly exciting special project," Draco raised his eyebrows as if he cared, ate his food and still managed to maintain his cold ruthless stare.
"It's nothing," Hermione attempted to end the conversation. She was spearing random vegetables with her fork, but she did not feel like eating, all she wanted to do was lighten the mood and have a pleasant evening with her boyfriend.
But now that she'd got him going, there was no stopping Draco. "Oh but it must be!" his tone was mocking now. "If it wasn't important, it wouldn't have made you an hour and a half late." His tone was much angrier now, and Hermione decided that she would rather be discussing anything else.
"Please Draco," Hermione dropped her fork to the table, "I sad I was sorry! I lost track of time. I just want to have a nice dinner with you, what do I have to do to get you to move past this?"
"Tell me about the project" Draco paused to give her time to respond. When she didn't he continued, "what important assignment does Shacklebolt have you slaving away on?" He paused again sensing that he was pushing her to the breaking point. "Is it about the dark arts?" Draco's determination grew along with Hermione's silence. "Come on Hermione, what's the big secret?" Now Draco's patience reached its breaking point, "tell me!" he roared causing heads to turn.
"I can't!" Hermione cried out.
Draco stared at her, anger burning in his gray eyes, "why can't you tell me?"
"I just can't," she answered dispiritedly.
"Why not, you're not working in the Department of Mysteries your work shouldn't be secret. For God's sake you're just a trainee they don't actually give you anything important to do!"
"I'm sorry Draco, but they made me promise not to tell you!" Hermione's hand flew to her mouth as soon as she spoke, knowing it was too late. She had already said too much.
"What? They wouldn't let you tell me?" Draco furrowed his brows, "you are working on something wit the Dark Arts aren't you? That's why they won't let you tell me, they don't trust me."
Hermione sat silently with her hand over her mouth and stray tears running down her cheeks. She didn't know what to say and she could not think of a single thing that would be able to get her out of this mess. She almost wished that Draco would use Legilmency against her to find the truth because she doubted that she would be able to keep any thought hidden at the moment.
"You don't have to listen to them Hermione, they don't control everything you do. But of course you're smart enough to know that, so that must mean that you don't trust me."
Hermione sat shocked with her mouth agape, shaking her head slowly, "no," she whispered.
"What's the matter, think I'll revert back to my old ways if I had some inside information, is that it?"
"No Draco I swear that's not it at all!"
Draco sneered at her, "You can't tell me what you're doing, you refuse to tell me where you live with Potter and Weasley, shit Hermione I don't know that the hell to think about you anymore!" Without warning, he stood up. He removed a large handful of gold from his pocket and threw it on the table to cover the check. He shook his head at her, and began to walk away.
But he had barely taken three steps when he turned around and walked back up to her. For a brief moment, until she saw the fury in his face, she thought he might have changed his mind. Yet as soon as she saw his expression, she shrank back in fear.
"By the way," he spat. "My mother came home this morning, and she spent all day mad at me for dating a muggleborn, but I defended you. I told her how great and wonderful you are and convinced her to meet you so she could see for herself. I defended you and this shit is what I get in return!" This time Draco turned and stomped the entire way out of the restaurant.
Hermione broke down and cried right there in the middle of the restaurant. She didn't care about the other diners staring at her, all she cared about was the anger and pain she'd seen in his eyes and heard in his voice. Unable to take it anymore, she followed his lead and left the restaurant, she scanned in vain up and down the street for any sign of him though she knew he wouldn't be there. She didn't know what to do, should she go to the Manor and beg him to forgive her, or should she go back home?
Hermione walked up and down the street for a very long time, her mind going back and forth between the two choices. In the end she decided to go back to Grimmauld Place tonight, and deal with Draco tomorrow when he hopefully would be a bit calmer. She apparated to the house, and slowly opened the door, and shut it behind her with a loud click. She shuffled through the hall to the stairs, and climbed them as if she was moving in slow motion. The events of the night replayed themselves over and over in her head, had Draco broken up with her? She sobbed at the mere thought.
Hermione was thankful that Harry and Ron had apparently gone out for the evening because she didn't want either of them to see her cry. She shuffled into her room in a daze and fell onto her bed face first. Once there, all she could do was cry. She was tired of this; she was tired of crying, tired of fighting with Draco, tired of everything being so difficult. 'If I could just tell Draco about the Order, then everything would be fine!' she argued to herself. 'I should be able to tell him! He's proven himself trustworthy. Just because he doesn't want to fight doesn't mean that he's one of them.
Hermione broke down again as the arguments that her friends would use against her flooded her mind. After a while her thoughts muddled together in one miserable blur and Hermione was left to cry herself to sleep.
I really don't know how everyone will react to this chapter, so I would love to hear your thoughts in a review! I hope you felt it was worth the wait!
To all my wonderful readers and reviewers, you each get a box of chocolate frogs, better eat them before they hop away!