Chapter 2- Diagon Alley
"I was actually thinking of buying a few more books today." Hermione said innocently, looking at her half-eaten banana in sudden interest. Draco groaned in annoyance.
"Granger, we have a whole library full of books, must you choose to venture to Diagon Alley with full awareness that people would mob us there?" Draco said, gesturing everywhere to prove his point.
"You're, once again, exaggerating, Malfoy. I just need a few books that I am pretty sure your library does not have. " Hermione said in a matter-of-fact tone. Draco scowled, expecting that she was right. She had that annoying habit of being right.
"Plus. I'm pretty sure you'd want to buy something as well." She said, specifically referring to the new Quidditch store his friend, Blaise Zabini opened up. Draco cursed and grabbed Hermione by the arm, dragging her inside the Manor and up the stairs.
"I completely forgot about Blaise' opening. Bloody hell, we have to be there in 15 minutes." Draco muttered, looking at his watch as he raced to the bathroom.
"Hurry up, Granger, or he'll have my head… and yours." Hermione chuckled as she heard a loud bang come from the bathroom, and a string of curse words emit from only one person in there. Guessing Draco hit himself in his rush, Hermione knocked on he bathroom door in amusement.
"You alright, Draco?" She asked, muffling a laugh.
"Oh, go change." She heard him say angrily, followed by another curse filled sentence. Hermione laughed and made her way to the other bathroom adjacent their guest room.
In the end, Hermione finished before Draco, deciding on a simple maroon robe that Narcissa bought for her as a gift. She pulled her chestnut colored locks in a ponytail, and attached a clip to keep the stray hairs from falling in her face.
"Have you seen my cufflinks?" Draco asked, suddenly reappearing from their bathroom, hair still damp from his shower, resulting to the wet collar of his white button up shirt.
"Look with your eyes, Draco, not with your mouth." Hermione said, spotting the silver cufflinks on his bedside table, making a move to pick them up, but in the event wherein Draco decided to pick them up as well, causing their hands to brush against each other for the quickest of moments.
Hermione couldn't deny that she had felt a shock when she touched him, and it wasn't only for this time. For the past months, she'd always find herself blushing whenever he gave her a compliment, or feel anger/resentment towards him for some reason whenever he'd talk to another witch.
Draco cleared his throat, picking up his cufflinks and putting them on in haste.
"We better get going, we'll just apparate there once we reach the outside of the manor." He said, picking up his wand, and putting on his coat. Hermione nodded and followed his actions, wounding the scarf securely around her neck.
Without warning, Draco took her hand in his and walked out of the room and to the den, where Lucius and Narcissa were sitting.
"Mother, Father, we'll be leaving now." Draco stated, hand still holding Hermione's. Lucius raised his eyebrow at their interlaced fingers, but nodded. Narcissa however was ecstatic at this new sign of affection and told them to hurry along.
Hermione couldn't stop the warmth crawling up her neck, and was silently thanking Merlin that it was cold, giving her the excuse to wear her scarf to hide her already pink cheeks.
"What was the shop called again?" Draco asked, walking towards their apparition point. Hermione looked at him with a mixture of amusement and disbelief.
"He's your best-friend, Draco. I'm pretty sure you'd remember." Hermione mused. Draco scowled.
"It has momentarily slipped my mind." He said. Hermione laughed, causing Draco's features to soften. Why? He didn't know himself. Her laugh was comforting in a way. Maybe it was the way her nose crinkled, or how her head tilted back ever so slightly.
"Draco?" Draco snapped out of his thoughts and back to Hermione.
"Yes?" He answered impatiently.
"I said it was Zabini's Flying Fancies. Quite a name, don't you think?" Hermione commented. Draco snorted, still holding Hermione's hand.
"Get ready." He said, and soon, they were gone with a loud crack.
They reached Diagon Alley, fingers still intertwined. Draco pulled Hermione through the streets of Diagon Alley gently, not looking at the people staring blatantly at them.
"It was Pansy who picked it out. She absolutely hated the name: "Zabini's Quidditch Quandary" and "Flight for the Flightless" so, she gave him a name she found suitable. Of course, Blaise hated it, but couldn't say a thing about it to his wife." Hermione chuckled, remembering how angry Pansy was when she came over.
"Yes, I do remember Pansy raving about the atrocity of Blaise' shop names." Hermione said laughingly. Draco grinned at her, and soon, after several minutes of walking past photographers and people wishing to stop and talk, they reached Zabini's Flying Fancies.
"Hermione! Draco! So glad you could make it!" A woman with dark shoulder length hair came out from the shop, smiling and waving at the two new comers.
"Of course we'd come, Pansy. We wouldn't miss it for the world." Hermione said, looking pointedly at Draco. Draco just nodded stiffly and looked around.
"Where's that husband of yours?" He asked with a smirk. "Already prying his precious belongings away from customers?" Draco joked. Pansy laughed and pointed to the stock room.
"Just fixing up a few things. I am so glad you two could make it. It's been so hectic helping Blaise fix up this bloody shop. I didn't even think people would actually go! Apparently I was wrong. This shop is literally bursting." Pansy said, gesturing to all the people in there.
"Good business. What can you do when the owner is this good looking?" A deep voice said from behind them. Blaise smirked as he hugged his wife from behind, encircling his arms around her waist. Hermione smiled, but couldn't help the envy rising inside of her. She looked at Draco and suddenly felt…
"So Blaise, how are you going to manage this shop and still be an Auror?" Hermione asked in curiosity. Blaise grinned and jerked his head to a young man managing the counter.
"See him? That's Roobin Robinson. He manages the shop. I'll technically just fix up the paper works and what not while he does most of the work." Blaise said nonchalantly. Hermione raised a brow at this statement but shook it off.
Slytherins.
"What about you two? How's the vacation treating you?" Blaise asked. Draco groaned in frustration.
"More like a prison. I can't believe Shacklebolt is having us take a yearlong break just because of one accident. I'm fine now!" Draco complained while Hermione just kept silent.
They were both Aurors, yet were now 'taking a break' because of what happened to Draco after a certain raid.
(Flashback)
"Draco, what are you doing? Get out of there!" Hermione hissed. Draco however didn't seem to hear her.
"Draco, the place is going to crumble any minute!" Hermione said, panic suddenly rising in her chest.
"Hold on, I'm almost finished." Draco said, performing spell after spell on the place. Hermione looked up at the cracking ceiling, then to her retreating team. She couldn't leave him.
To her relief, Draco came back, but not the Draco she knew. He was cursed, and didn't know where he was, or who he was. Hermione brought him to St. Mungos, where he was treated. Apparently, he tried performing a counter spell on one of the objects in the Manor, but failed to see that the object was cursed before he touched it.
3 days in the recovery room. Hermione was beside him, berating him for his stupidity when she got the chance to catch him awake.
"You stubborn ferret! Why couldn't you have just listened to me?" She said, through a choked back sob.
"Idiot! You stubborn twat!" Hermione said, harshly wiping away a tear.
"We get it, Granger. No need to cry about it." Draco said, his tone soft and mildly amused.
"Of course it is, Draco! It could have been much worse! You could have gotten hurt! You idiot!" Hermione said, slapping him on the arm. Draco was silent, but looked at her and nodded as if he understood.
"Kingsley said we'd have to take a year off. Said that we should just take a break for while." Hermione said softly. Draco's head snapped back to her.
"What?" He said in surprise. "A year? But I'm fine now!" He protested.
"Yes, Draco, I know, but those were Kingsley's orders. It's just a year. He said there wasn't anything we had to do anyways seeing as how we already raided the last of the death-eater's head quarters." Hermione tried to reason. Draco however just fell silent.
"I don't want you to get hurt again, Draco." She muttered.
"Yes… I daresay the feeling's mutual." He said.
(End of Flashback)
"It's only been a month, Draco." Pansy said, rolling her eyes. "There hasn't even been a mission. Plus, you got poor Hermione to look after you when she could be out there fighting baddies." Pansy joked. Hermione smiled at the comment.
"I don't mind." She said, tightening her grip on Draco's hand. Blaise and Pansy smiled at the couple. They, as well as all the other people in the wizarding world, fell for their fake intimacy.
"So, heard from the Potters yet?" Pansy said, sneering at the name. Hermione froze at the sound and looked down.
"Potter's been pestering me about how I shouldn't be opening a business when I'm an Auror." Blaise said, straightening a quaffle on a nearby shelf. Draco frowned in disapprovement.
"Don't mind him, Blaise." Draco said, looking at Hermione for her reaction. She however remained stoic in expression.
"Listen, I promised Hermione to pass by Flourish and Blotts on the way home, so I think it's time we go." Draco said, shaking Blaise' hand and pecking Pansy on the cheek. Hermione smiled at the both of them, giving Pansy a quick hug before following Draco's lead out the shop.
They walked in silence for a while before Hermione spoke.
"I'd actually prefer home, Malfoy." She said softly. Draco nodded, and in a moment, they apparated back to the Manor.
They hung their coats and scarves once they arrived. Draco looked at Hermione in caution, searching her face for any sign of anger or resentment.
"It's alright to hate them, Granger, you know that." Draco said. Hermione smiled and looked at him.
"I understand why they're mad at me, Draco." She said lightly.
"Well, I don't. If you ask me, I think they're being down-right gits." Draco said pompously. Hermione laughed softly and shook her head. Draco's features softened at his wife's sad expression, and suddenly felt a rush of anger towards the Potters and Weasleys.
"You're my husband. You're supposed to tell me that, even if you are… you." She said quietly. Draco looked at her with a blank expression and nodded. What was that supposed to mean? He didn't know. Did she think that the only reason why he was defending her was because he had to?
A small pop sounded from the silence. Hermione turned to the small elf she recognized as Minty.
"Master! Mistress! You have been summoned to the parlors, older Masters told Minty. Told Minty to retrieve both of yous, he says." Minty said. Hermione looked at Draco and took his hand once again.
"We're being called, Draco." She said, and turned to thank Minty, however she was too late, seeing as how he already disappeared.
They reached the parlor, unaware of who'd be visiting them.
"Ah, there you are. Look who decided to drop by." Narcissa said, a smile gracing her features as she gestured to a woman seated beside her.
The woman smiled kindly and nodded at the couple in greeting.
"It's been a while, Hermione. Draco."
AN: OKAY! Haha, to all my old readers, I bet you know who this is. :)) But to my new readers, lets see who can guess who this is. ;)
Well, here's the edited version of Chapter 2. The first two chapters are actually brand new! I hope you guys enjoyed this, and please drop me a review, or even PM me!
I actually wanted to incorporate Blaise and Pansy in my story as good guys because I missed that chance the first time round, so there you go! Okay, even if this is an edited version, there are still grammatical errors. I NEED A BETA. Hint. Hint.
And if you have any questions whatsoever, you know where to go!
www (dot) wandlessmagic (dot) tumblr (dot) com / ask