A/N: I know I know guys I've been a lazy ass lately and not updated this in like foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrr…but I'm back and I hope u guys forgive me –pouts- oh and DEATHLY HALLOWS WAS SOOOOO FREAKING AWESOME in your reviews tell me your thoughts and whether any of your predictions came true.
Chapter 5: The Manor
Draco, Hermione and Nick spent the rest of the morning packing up their belongings. Hermione had come to the conclusion that moving in with Draco would be the best option, especially now that Nick knew the truth about his father. Aided by the use of magic, Hermione and Draco managed to get most of the house packed by twelve. They were boxing everything in the last room when the most mortifying incident took place.
'Mummy, what's this?' asked Nick, holding up Hermione's lacy red bra.
Hermione almost passed from shock when she looked up from her box to see exactly what her son was questioning about. Words had completely abandoned her as she stared, mouth agape, and upon realising that Malfoy was still in the room, she felt the utter need to sink into the wooden floor, just to be saved from this torture.
'Never would have thought know-it-all Granger would be one to wear naughty underwear' Draco whispered from behind her, only so she could hear.
Hermione turned to glare at him, but the tomato red blush emblazoning her cheeks gave away her embarrassment. This amused Draco even further and he winked at her, giving a lopsided grin that almost made her throttle him. Turning back to look at Nick, Hermione immediately regretted it as she saw what he did next. Draco doubled over in laughter as Hermione chased their son around the bedroom as he placed the bra over his head like an army helmet and ran around singing:
'WE'RE GOING ON A TROLL HUNT! WE'RE GOING ON A TROLL HUNT! WE'RE GONNA CATCH A BIG ONE!'
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After Hermione had caught Nick, pried the bra off of his beautiful blonde head and threw it into a nearby box, they had magically sealed the last carton and apparated to Malfoy Manor. Hermione had stared in awe at the beautiful white building before her. She had always known the Malfoy's had a huge home, but never had she expected it to be so beautiful. The grounds stretched out far on all four side, all tamed into majestic gardens. Hermione thought she spotted a stable far of in the distance and a Quidditch field somewhere close by. It really was a wonderful sight, nothing like the grey foreboding castle Hermione expected it to be. They slowly made their way up the narrow gravel path looking over the low hedges at the huge stone fountain and its sparkling blue water tinkling out of what appeared to be the beaks of a dozen phoenixes. A beautiful white peacock emerged from one of the hedges and Nick squealed in delight running at it. The peacock, absolutely shocked by this interference ran for cover behind the opposing hedge and the little boy walked back to his parents, pouting.
As the reached the huge double doors at the end of the path, Draco expertly ran his fingers along the emblem carved into the middle and the doors slowly swung inwards, welcoming them inside. The entrance hall was magnificent, two tall stone columns supported a rather high roofed ceiling and ornamental decorations were set around the place.
'I'll show you to your rooms' said Draco walking over to huge staircase twisted and turned so much that you got dizzy just looking at it.
They passed by many blonde haired, pale faced portraits that looked down upon them, a hint of curiosity glinting in their usually impassive eyes. Suits of armours and huge vases also lined the hallways. After walking up at least five floors, it seemed the party had reached their destination. Draco turned to a door on his immediate right and threw it open. Hermione's jaw dropped at the sight beholding her. The room was more than four times Hermione's old bedroom and it was jam-packed with shelves upon shelves of toys and books both muggle and wizard. Beside the toy broomstick on the far shelf, Hermione spotted the board games Monopoly and Twister. She turned to look at Draco, the same look of shock plastered on her face.
'Malfoy, did you do this just then? Since yesterday I mean?' she managed to gasp out.
'Don't be stupid Granger. Even though I have the money to do such a thing, I do not possess the mental capacity. No, this is my old bedroom' replied Draco, looking almost bored.
'Geez I knew you would have been a spoilt child, but this is just…'
Hermione stopped right there for she knew not exactly what "this" was and continued to stare into the room. She looked down at Nick, who wore a similar expression to hers, but when he felt his mother's eyes on him he looked up, his face cracking into a smile and without further ado dropped the tiny backpack he had insisted on carrying and ran in the room. He leapt onto the four poster bed in the middle and began jumping up and down as he decided what he should play with first. Deciding to go with the HUGE bag of Wizard Lego, because he loved to build, he unzipped the bag, causing the contents to spill onto the floor and began working on his first invention. Draco silently motioned for Hermione to follow him down the hall and they did so, leaving Nick to play.
As they walked silently down the hallway, Hermione realised that this one was unlike the others they had seen so far. Instead of the Malfoy ancestor portraits, the walls were covered in bright paintings, a sunset, a forest, the ocean. It seemed to her that this hallway's decorations were a lot more recent than the others. She was just about to ask Draco as to why this was when she bumped into something solid and fell backwards right onto her bum.
'I know you can't keep your hands off me Granger, but do try to resist the temptation' drawled Malfoy, looking back down at Hermione.
Looking up to see whether or not she'd broken something, Hermione had realised she had bumped into Malfoy simply because the stupid bastard decided to stop right there in the middle of the hallway, for no reason at all. When she was back on her feet, however, she looked beyond his broad shoulder and saw that there was a reason. Draco had stopped because they had reached the end of the hall, and now they stood in front of a set of oak double doors.
'This is your room Granger' said Draco, throwing open the doors and walking inside.
Hermione walked inside to see that this room was double the size of Nick's. One could not even call it a bedroom; it was more like a living area, complete with sofa set, a fireplace and a small kitchenette in the corner. It was decorated beautifully, with a red, black and white theme. The couches were black with glittering red cushions piled on top; the coffee table in front was made of red glass with a twisted base with various decoration pieces. There was a white shag rug in front of the roaring fire. The bed was huge; it could probably fit five people. The sheets were black, the blanket red and the pillows a variation of the theme colours. There was a huge book shelf covering an entire wall, filled with all sorts of books. Hermione stood in the middle and spun around, falling in love with it immediately, all doubts of moving in with Malfoy had flown out the window. There were two doors leading out of the room. Hermione guessed one was the bathroom and found she was right when she opened the door and peeked inside. The bathroom was just as beautiful as the bedroom. It was an octagonal room and black marble was the theme here. There was a wall sized mirror on one side and a huge pool sized spa on the other. In another corner there was a huge shower with various jets poking out from the walls and a dinner plate sized shower head embedded into the roof. The toilet was hidden by a clever bend in the wall and the there were two sinks in front of yet another mirror, this one however was smaller.
Hermione walked out of the bathroom and opened the other door. She found it to be a large walk-in-robe. She was delighted to see that her clothes were already hanging there, and everything was colour coordinated. She turned to look at the other side of the wardrobe and realisation hit her. What she found hanging there was most certainly not hers. This better not be what she thought it was.
Storming out of the cupboard she saw Draco sitting on the couch, gazing intently into the fire, both his arms draped over the back of the couch. Hermione stomped her way over to him and stopped directly in front of him, hands on her hips and her face set into a scowl. Blinking Draco looked up at her and said:
'I see that you've finished exploring'
'Yes' huffed Hermione, actually stamping her foot.
'What may I ask is the problem then my sweet little Granger? It must be catastrophic, seeing as it has got you in such an adorably frustrating mood' drawled Draco, smirking.
'Don't you dare play coy with me Malfoy. You know exactly what is wrong and never ever call me adorable again' snapped Hermione, shuddering.
'Okay I won't call you adorable then, not that you can call a mountain lion adorable. But I don't see what the problem is Granger, everything seems perfectly fine to me'.
'WHY THE HELL ARE YOUR CLOTHES IN MY CUPBOARD?' yelled Hermione, finally loosing it.
'Well you see Granger, this here is my room and I am being kind enough to let you call it you own' replied Draco calmly.
'Why do we have the same bedroom? Doesn't this house have more than two bedrooms?'
'What is this Granger, 20 questions? Just shut up will you and be thankful for once in your life. We're sleeping in the same bedroom so that Nick can see his freaking parents are getting along and that we're no different from other parents. We are trying to give him a normal lifestyle right? How are we supposed to do that when you sit there and you can't even pick out the simplest details without them being spoon fed to you? And the called YOU the brightest witch of the century.' and with that Draco stood up and walked out of the room to Merlin knows where.
Hermione huffed again and then finally collapsed onto the bed. Malfoy did have a point she thought. Nick wanted nothing more than a normal life and they would have to put aside their differences and make this work, for Nick's sake. It surprised Hermione how Draco was being the mature one out of the situation and trying to work things out. It almost ashamed her, almost, from now on there would be no immaturity from her side, not if she had anything to do with it. Slowly Hermione drifted of to sleep; it had been a very long morning indeed.
A/N: its short I know but it'll have to do for now I will try and update faster from now, maybe later next week. I'm sorry this chapter wasn't very exciting but chapters such as this are necessary, and I promise the next chapter will definitely be longer. REVIEW people. The faster you do the faster I update!