Draco Malfoy and His Quest to Sensibility

by cleury

Chapter XX

The idea of wanting to quit magic and live as a Muggle was something so foreign, Draco had trouble comprehending the idea. He doubted himself, wondering if he had taken one leap too far and had reached the wrong conclusion. Yet, he felt certain he had struck the nail right on the head. Draco felt out of his depth. When a young wizard felt out of depth, they talked to their old sage. Draco Malfoy did not have such an old sage in his life, but he did have a sage. And he went by the name of Theodore Nott.

He scribbled on a piece of parchment to his friend.

This is a hypothetical situation; don't read too much into it.

Suppose someone wants to do something. But the idea of something to you is so incomprehensible and foreign you have no idea why they want to do it. What would you do?

DM

P.S: Why did you leave me on the floor at Greengrass' place?

He sent the owl and received a reply minutes later. Theo seemed to have an uncanny ability to reply in a short period of time. It was as though he was expecting a question, had written the reply beforehand and sent the owl directly back. Draco's eyes trailed over Theo's long and loopy handwriting.

I know it's not a hypothetical situation, but I promise I won't tell anyone if you owe me one.

My advice for you with your conundrum is: familiarize yourself with the idea to understand the reason and motivations behind that someone wanting to do that something.

TN

P.S: You smelt bad and I didn't want to touch you, lest your stench rubbed off onto me.

Draco snorted as he scrunched up the Theo's reply, glad that his friend had given him advice, but annoyed at everything else in the letter. He shuddered at the thought of leaving an open favor to Theo. "You'd think I asked him to sacrifice his trust fund or something!"

But what Theo said made some sense. It made Draco feel slightly stupid for not thinking of it before. He should familiarize himself in the Muggle practice, to see just what was enticing Hermione to it. That being said, he wasn't about to change his lifestyle and move to a Muggle suburb. That wasn't Draco Malfoy's style. Instead, he decided to do learn in a way that was less interactive, and took less effort. It wouldn't even interrupt with his work schedule. With that settled in his mind, Draco yawned and stretched. Lethargically, he pulled the pile of paperwork close to his desk, and began to read and work through the documents.

"You seem to be reading a lot," said Blaise, looking over Draco's shoulder.

Draco grunted, absorbed in his reading. He had planned to finish the book by the end of the night but his social life called him. He had arrived an hour ago in a small bar-café, and they had spent their time quietly catching up with each other. Theo was nowhere in sight, five minutes into their gathering. The man had gotten up and said he was going to get a breath of fresh air. He had left his coat on the seat so Draco reckoned he would be back before the night was over. But there really was no telling with Theo. He had disappeared on his own for better parts of the evening many times, and more than once Blaise or Pansy had to collect his coat with them when they left.

Draco had been tempted more than once to leave as well. He had been reading for most of the afternoon, after all his work at his business of course, and didn't want to put his book down. But he knew that he had to see his friends once in a while, and opted to make use of his time by multi-tasking.

"Are you planning on co-operating with muggle partners?" asked Blaise as he saw the cover of Draco's book.

Draco shook his head. "No, just needed to read up on something."

Pansy stretched luxuriously on couch and sipped her tea. Apparently she was doing some 'no coffee and alcohol' diet in order to achieve glowing skin. Draco had snorted when he heard her plan, and told her life would be extremely dysfunctional and boring without the two liquids. But Draco had to admit, her skin was positively sparkling. Whatever.

"Like, duh, who would willingly associate with Mud People?"

Blaise rolled his eyes at Pansy. "Come on Pans, you know we're not supposed to call them that anymore. They're equal, just like us."

Pansy snorted. "Yeah, right. Like how glass is the same as diamonds. Don't you think, Draco?"

Draco turned to face Pansy. This was the first time anyone had asked where he stood in his views of the muggle-born and blood purism. They usually just took these kinds of things for granted. "Um, no," he said, he felt his palms suddenly moist and swallowed. "I don't."

Blaise and Pansy exchanged surprised glances. "Mate, don't you?"

"Is it because of H—?"

"No," said Draco, making a face and wishing his friends would stop speculating. "Don't you two have stuff to discuss?"

"Like what?" said Pansy and Blaise together.

"Like your relationship," said Draco pointedly. "Have you guys decided what you're going to do yet?"

There were a round of coughs and splutters.

"Yeah," said Blaise turning a little red. "We decided not to."

"Not if you weren't happy with it."

Draco looked at the two, who were obviously hiding feelings of affection for each other. The atmosphere between them was so sappy it made him sick to the stomach. "You don't have to worry about it, if it's me. I've gotten over it, I think." That was a lie. But in a rare event, Draco Malfoy put the couple's happiness before his own. Not for any gain, but because it would make the pair happy. Blaise and Pansy beamed at Draco.

"Thanks, mate."

"You'll always be my favorite boyfriend. Don't worry."

"Hey!" objected Blaise. Pansy giggled and Draco cracked a smile. It was going to be hard for him. Doing one good deed per day, Draco Malfoy on his way to Sainthood! If he kept it up, Draco would have people calling him Saint Malfoy by the end of the month.

It was too soon for Draco to accept and see the pair together as a couple, so he gulped down his glass of firewhiskey and ordered another one, before turning his attention back to the book he was reading. It was on an important device created by muggles that was deemed the revolution of the century—the computer. But Draco wasn't too interested in what the contraption could do; he was more interested in how they made the computer and the design behind it.

"What do you guys think of science?" mused Draco aloud

"Sci—what?" said Pansy, looking bewildered.

"Don't know, don't care," Blaise concluded.

Draco shrugged and continued reading about how digital components were created. What he was learning interested him, but he didn't feel as though he could discuss this sort of thing with anyone. Maybe Theo, but Draco knew for all of Theo's intellect, he strayed towards the art's side of knowledge, familiarizing himself with philosophy, music, and paintings. Mental arithmetic and the sturdy rules of sciences suited Draco's taste more; he always found the art subjects wishy-washy. Even in Hogwarts, Draco adored Potions while he slept through most – if not all – of Professor Binns' history classes.

As it soon became time for the bar to close, Pansy yawned and Blaise shrugged on his jacket. Draco was only halfway through the book. He was unfamiliar with so many terms and had to guess what they meant. They parted ways, and Draco apparated into his bedroom. He turned on his beside lamp, and continued reading.

He continued to read, absorbed in the strange world, when he stopped and looked up at his clock. He scowled, wishing he owned a time-turner. Three in the morning. He had an important general meeting with all the stockholders in the Malfoy Company at midday, and he couldn't risk falling asleep in it. He shut the book and turned in. "I'll skip visiting Crookshanks and Hermione tomorrow," he said to himself as he adjusted his pillow. "Or maybe until I finish the books I checked out from the library."

Draco nodded off to sleep, thinking it was an extremely good idea. He didn't know how to act around Hermione, not while knowing her secret, and he didn't want to confront her about anything before he learnt more about the muggle world.

A week passed by.

Draco hadn't visited Crookshanks or Hermione in a whole week, as the Malfoy Company was planning to launch a new product into the market. They had to plan a strategy to distinguish themselves from their main competitor, Honeydukes. Draco Malfoy did not tolerate mediocrity, and had refused a few proposals. Last night he fired an incompetent worker because of it.

Not to mention, Jean Kidd continued to send them the same message over and over again. He had stopped reading them a few days ago, and had just started throwing the letters, unopened, into the recycling bin. Apparently, writing 'NO' wasn't a clear enough message for Jean. Adrian had suggested that maybe Jean Kidd was illiterate—the way he wrote his notes only confirmed the theory. Draco vowed to take care of pesky pirate as soon as he figured out how to launch the new product.

There was little need to say that Draco was extremely stressed, and had forgotten all about his weekly sessions with Luna. An owl had flown onto his desk one day and he made a face, annoyed he had to take time off work to go. He shook his head and wrote a reply, asking for their session to be pushed back a couple of days until his workload decreased. He stood up and gave his owl the letter.

Draco paced around the room as he tried to think of new ideas. If only I—

Draco heard the door creak open and he turned around expecting to see Adrian—who was due back from a meeting with a partner any moment. He jumped back in surprise to see who it was.

"Hermione! How did you get in here?"

Hermione frowned, and made her way towards the center of the room. "Secretary buzzed me in."

Draco scowled. He was going to fire him. "He shouldn't let anyone in—"

"I threatened him," said Hermione, approaching Draco with increasing vigor.

"With what?" Draco's eyes widened, sensing something wasn't right.

"This!" yelled Hermione.

Draco dived out of the way as a burst of red light flew past his eyes. Draco rolled onto the ground and hid behind his desk. He swore and drew his wand out of his pocket, as Hermione continued to shoot sparks at everywhere and anywhere in the room.

"What the heck are you doing?" yelled Draco, scrambling onto his feet and keeping his wand trained onto Hermione. She looked like a woman on a mission out for blood. Caring little for the threat of Draco's wand pointed at her, she presumed to destroy Draco's office. It seemed odd to Draco that she didn't use any hexes or spells, preferring to wordlessly wave her wand and watch things explode. She's that mad. Draco winced when he heard a sharp smashing sound and he turned to see his beloved paperweight in pieces. He shook his head; he would mourn about it later. Right now there was something that demanded his immediate attention. It seemed as though Hermione was out on a vengeance of some sort.

"Not the walking stick!" Draco screeched. He shoved Hermione and the red sparks hit the mantle of the fireplace, causing red sparks to fly around the room like a firework display. He breathed heavily and gave a sigh of relief when he saw that Hermione's wand had rolled away from her hands.

Hermione didn't even bother picking up her wand. She yanked Draco's hair and bit his arm so hard he yelped, dropping his wand. Draco pushed her onto the ground and she cried out squirming.

"Let me go!"

"Not if you don't tell me what's going on," he said. "Why are you here?"

Tears trailed down Hermione's cheeks and he could see the left side of her face slack and tighten on its own accord. Draco loosened his grasp on Hermione and pulled her up gently. Hermione didn't attempt to hide the spasms arresting her face. Instead she sought comfort by hugging herself.

"Hey," he said gently, uncertain on what was going on. "What happened?"

It seemed as though Hermione was trying to talk, but the muscles at the back of her jaw had locked together in her fit, and she could only wince in pain. She mumbled incoherently, tears poured down her face even more and she begun to shake.

"Shh," comforted Draco. He sat directly in front of Hermione, one hand on her shoulder to steady her as she shuddered. He placed his hand against her cheek, massaging the taunt muscles on her face and kneaded the knots and hard ligaments on the side of Hermione's face. Hermione had closed her eyes, embarrassed at her lack of control in her outburst. Finally, when Hermione's tears subsided and the muscles at the back of her jaw unlocked, Draco dared to speak again. "What's the matter?"

"It's not funny," she replied, trying to take a deep breath. She attempted a shaky laugh. Draco dug his handkerchief out of his pocket and tenderly wiped Hermione's eyes and then nose. Her hand gripped the edge of the handkerchief and Draco retracted his hand as Hermione blew her nose. "I wasn't planning on doing this… I just wanted him back."

Draco frowned, still unable to catch comprehend what was going on.

"And then as I was walking up the flight of stairs, I came in here and then I lost control. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to trash your office."

"It's okay," said Draco, murmuring in low notes. "Just tell me what happened."

"Stop playing innocent!" Hermione suddenly shrieked. Draco placed two hands on her shoulders to calm her down. He looked right into her eyes.

"Listen to me, I have no idea what's going on. I've been trying to figure it out, but I can't. You need to talk to me like a grown-up."

Hermione looked dumbfounded and she lost focus for a second. "W-What do you mean?" she began.

"Just answer the damn question!" barked Draco. Hermione flinched when he suddenly raised his voice. Whoops. "Just answer the question, please," he tried again, doing his best to sympathize with her plight.

"You stole Crookshanks!"

Draco blinked.

Hermione glared at him.

It felt as though his brain had shutdown.

"I know you love him, but Crookshanks is my cat. You can't just take him away from me!" wailed Hermione, slamming her fists into Draco's chest. They weren't feminine and puny punches either. Draco could feel each one.

"I didn't take him."

"Who left this then?" said Hermione, she grabbed a crumpled piece of paper from the back pocket of her jeans.

triad 2 be nice. meet me if ya wanna see ur 1 tru love agin.

Draco groaned. "You thought I would write like an invalid?" he asked disappointed at the lack of reasoning shown by the smartest witch of his age.

"It's not you?" she asked, genuinely surprised. "But who else would kidnap such an ugly, mangly—"

He slammed his fist onto the ground and stood up. "Jean Kidd, you're going down."

"Jean Kidd? Who's he?"

"As of now, our common enemy who must be destroyed." He pulled Hermione up and picked their wands from the ground. He explained what was happening in their company to Hermione and guessed that Jean had stolen Hermione's cat in exchange for the Magic Routes.

"I need to get him back!" exclaimed Hermione.

Draco shook his head and he cleared the center of the room with his wand. He placed a parchment on the floor so that Adrian would be blind to miss his message.

Jean Kidd has done something stupid. He's going to pay. Bring the authorities to the boat house.

He looked over to Hermione, who was gripping her wand so tightly he feared the wand would splinter.

"Go back to the institute, I'll come by and drop off Crookshanks when I get him back."

"No," said Hermione mulishly, crossing her arms across her chest.

"No?" said Draco, aghast. "What do you mean, no? You are not coming with me, you're not even calm."

"I am calm," said Hermione quietly.

Draco waved his hands around the room. "You call this calm?"

"That was before." Hermione looked around and spotted a wooden cabinet. Before Draco could object, she opened it and downed a quarter of a bottle of his firewhiskey. She wiped her mouth and looked at Draco. "Okay, I was lying. Now I'm calm."

Draco shook his head, even less convinced then before.

"Where do we find this Jean Kidd? Don't just stand there looking at me! Come on!" urged Hermione, walking towards Draco.

"Are you sure it's okay?" said Draco, uncertain.

"Yes," said Hermione, rolling her eyes. "As long as I'm the one who gets to hex the idiot."

Draco wasn't so sure about exposing people to danger. Right now, Hermione was a force to be reckoned with and he didn't know if he could control her so that she wouldn't cause lasting damage to Jean Kidd.

"I'm not waiting for the authorities to do something!" demanded Hermione. "They wouldn't care about a cat!"

That decided it for Draco. He added an extra sentence to the note—make sure Healers are there, too.

Draco looked around for the scroll with the Magic Routes and stuffed it into his pocket. Although he planned for Jean Kidd's total and utter defeat, he had to make sure he had a bargaining chip just in case things went awry.

"Come on!" said Hermione impatiently.

Draco smiled. He relished the prospect of shooting hexes at Jean Kidd and planned to blast him off into the next century. He almost felt sorry for him—Jean Kidd had messed with him the wrong time. He had stress to burn off and Jean Kidd was about to turn into a moving target to relieve his anxiousness.

He had no doubt Hermione felt the same way. He grabbed Hermione's hand.

"Let's go."

TBC. The Silver Duo goes off on a head hunt for Jean Kidd.