Chapter 4 – Meeting the Parents
Hermione awoke to bright sunlight shining on her face. She opened her eyes and blinked several times to adjust to the bright light. The bed she was lying in was so comfy that she thought she was going to face great difficulty leaving it.
Then she remembered where she was. No, this was not good. Hermione Granger had openly cried in front of and spilled her relationship problems to Draco Malfoy. She was just waiting for him to walk into the room with a bunch of his friends just to laugh at her.
Deciding to leave before she humiliated herself further, Hermione got dressed, made the (most comfortable) bed and got her bags together before leaving Malfoy's guest room that obviously looked like a five star hotel suite.
Just as she was reaching the top of the staircase, Hermione stopped in her tracks because she heard voices coming from the hallway.
"What are you doing here?" She head Draco ask uneasily.
"Draco, it's Sunday. What has gotten into you? We come every Sunday for brunch; surely you should know this by now. We have been doing this for years, sweetheart." A woman responded exasperatedly.
"Yeah well I'm kind of preoccupied right now, mother."
"Why? Do you have someone here? Do you have a girl here? Draco, why didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend? That's great sweetheart!"
"No, mother. I don't have a girlfriend, so you can stop thinking up your grandchildren's names."
"Draco, I wasn't even thinking that. Besides, I already have them planned out-"
A creak sounded from the stairs, where Hermione was currently stood having shifted her weight looking at the sight in front of her, her face turning red. Draco Malfoy was stood there awkwardly whilst none other than Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy stared at her with bewildered looks on their faces. If only the floor would swallow her up.
Draco swallowed nervously as Lucius slowly turned to look at him with one eyebrow lifted. His mother looked positively thrilled. At least one of them did. Hermione looked like she wanted to die.
"I'm sorry to, erm, interrupt." Hermione stammered, slowly descending the stairs. She made her way over to the front door. "I should go, erm, thanks for the help, er, Malfoy, really."
"Is that what they call it these days?" Lucius muttered under his breath.
"Please, Miss Granger is it?" Narcissa said, ignoring her husband. Hermione nodded. "Stay for brunch with us, I insist. Really Draco, you're not very good at hosting are you? When you let people stay at your house, that normally entitles breakfast. Come on dear, let's go and get some breakfast." Narcissa took Hermione's bags off her and hung them up on the coat stand. She then linked her arm in Hermione's and led her to Draco's dining room leaving a rather baffled father and son looking uncertain.
"Well that was unexpected." Lucius said dryly to his son before following the two women into the dining room. Draco didn't know whether to go with them for Granger's safety or to run until he was where no one would ever find him for his own safety. After a small mental battle with himself, Draco decided to join them in the dining room. This should be interesting.
You could say that Draco never expected to see his parents having brunch with the muggleborn Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's best friend. To say that his father needed a firewhiskey was an understatement. He probably would have if his mother wasn't there. Narcissa seemed to have a lot of control over Lucius. What Narcissa says, goes.
Draco sat down opposite Hermione since his mother had taken it upon herself to sit next to the poor girl. She was currently asking her what she did for a living.
"I currently work as a curse breaker for the ministry." Hermione smiled at the elder woman. She had not expected someone from the Malfoy family to be so friendly and welcoming.
"A smart girl. I like it." She nodded knowingly towards Draco. Subtlety was not one of her strong points. "Unlike any other girl that I've read about him being with, he never tells me anything these days. I wish you would Draco, Blaise tells his mother things-"
"Mother, seriously."
"Anyway, do you enjoy working as a curse breaker Miss Granger?" Narcissa asked.
"Please, call me Hermione." Narcissa smiled warmly. "I enjoy working as a curse breaker, but, truthfully, I want to open a playgroup for magical children." Lucius looked up from his French toast at this, getting more interested. Hermione proceeded to tell Draco's mother about her dream of opening the school like she had told him the previous evening. Narcissa was so engrossed that she had forgotten to eat the rest of her fruit salad.
When Hermione had finished telling Narcissa her plans of the school she had offered to help the other witch clear up in the kitchen, since Draco's house elf, Tula, was off doing some other jobs. Hermione rolled up her sleeves just before putting dishes into the sink. She realized her mistake too late. Narcissa had already caught sight of the bruises that had formed on her arms that Ron had caused by grabbing a hold of her.
Narcissa caught Hermione's hands in her own. "My dear, what on earth happened? Who did this to you? Please don't tell me that this was an accident because I know for a fact that that is a handprint." How would Hermione get out of this one? She didn't want their pity, but she didn't want to lie either.
"Ronald Weasley." Hermione admitted. She looked up to see Lucius and Draco walk into the kitchen, who had also noticed the marks.
"Weasley?" Lucius asked, not masking his distaste. "What so they're hitting girls now? And I thought they could sink no lower..."
"But Hermione, how could this happen? I'm sorry dear, I don't mean to pry-"
"He cheated on me, made out like it was my fault, hit me, I hexed him." Lucius and Draco shared a smile at the hex comment, typical. "I ran away and now, I'm here."
"But it wasn't your fault at all, how come you didn't leave sooner? He sounds dreadful."
"He's taken everything from me. I have no money left. Nothing." After an awfully long bitching session about the Weasley's, Hermione found herself feeling surprisingly better about herself. Who'd have thought it? Hermione could hardly digest it.
When Hermione realized that she'd been hanging out with the Malfoy family for about four hours, Hermione thought that she should probably leave. She'd already disturbed their morning enough. After reassuring Narcissa that she would be okay going to Luna's and Harry's and that she'd contact them if any problems came up, Hermione finally left. Not without thanking Draco for his help multiple times on her departure.
After walking Hermione to the front door and seeing her out, Draco walked back into the living room where his parents were waiting expectantly for him. Before the end of the Second Wizarding War, the Malfoy's had turned to the 'light' side, meaning their previous wrong-doings had been dismissed. It had turned out that they'd only been a part of it because of the protection of their family. Yet some people still held grudges against them.
His mother was waiting for him with a smug smile on her face. "Yes?" He asked, knowing perfectly well what was coming.
"She's a lovely girl, that Hermione. Very pretty; very intelligent." She said with a glint in her eyes.
"Mother, how many times do I have to tell you? I am not dating Hermione Granger." He replied, getting annoyed. His father had been rather quiet that morning, save for a few sarcastic comments here and there.
"Why ever not?"
"We hate each other; I only bumped into her yesterday. Whatever, I'm not with her, never have been, never will be. Anyway, father looks like he is bursting to say something, so please, do share what is making you look so uncomfortable." Draco said, turning to his father, moving on swiftly.
His mother and father briefly share and unnerving look. Lucius began. "Well... Draco, people are talking. This family doesn't have a good reputation, as you know. Me and your mother, we've done everything that we could. We've donated money to charities, we've given any information that we had on Voldemort, and we gave over names of Death Eaters. People still aren't exactly happy. You need to do something Draco. You're the younger generation, the same age as Potter. People are more likely to pay attention to you."
"Who cares what people think?" Draco asked, sitting down next to his mother.
"Draco..." His mother started.
"Someone even made a comment to your mother in Diagon Alley on Wednesday."
"What did they say?" Draco questioned.
"Something along the lines of being a Death Eater and blaming her for the death of someone they knew." Lucius responded. Narcissa looked down, with her hands in her lap, embarrassed.
"It was six years ago!" Draco shouted, his anger increasing. It shouldn't be taken out on his mother, she had been protecting him. He sighed. "What do you want me to do?"
"We didn't know what else to suggest, there really is nothing else..." Lucius said.
"What is it?"
"We want you to marry a muggleborn." Lucius replied flatly.
"Are you kidding me? You can't be serious." He laughed pathetically. "Unlike some people, I actually want to love the person I marry. I mean, I know you two like each other but that's different. You two knew each other well before you were married."
"Me? Love him? Really Draco, I thought you were clever."
"Son, that is ridiculous. We don't like each other, what's her name again?"
Draco looked pointedly at them. "Now is not the time to make jokes, especially when you drop a bomb like that." His parents collected themselves after their strange, brief episode and Draco carried on. "Besides, I don't know any muggleborns. Except for Granger, of course..."
"So you do know one..."
"Not the point mother! Anyway, like I said before, me and Granger hate each other. She would never marry me. I was horrible to her. The things I used to call her, for no reason. No, she would never marry me."
"But you'd marry her?" Narcissa said, leaning forward.
"Mother, really? Will you stop already?"
"You never answered the question." Lucius added.
"Oh so you're joining in now? And didn't you hear me? Merlin, how many times? We hate each other. Always have, always will."
"Things change." Narcissa said.
"Not that much."
"I'm sorry, but was it just me or did you allow Hermione Granger to stay at your house last night? Things certainly change." Lucius said.
"Good point Lucius!" Narcissa exclaimed, tapping his arm excitedly, scaring him slightly. She was enjoying this too much. It was like they'd strategized beforehand.
"Just no, end of discussion." Draco stopped them.
But they carried on anyway...
"Look what Weasley is doing to her son; you could protect her from that. She'll want someone to look after her."
"Plus, you could help her with funding the school that she wants to open." Narcissa commented.
"You could introduce her to your other friends, because judging by hers; they're a bit of a handful." Lucius added.
"Yes and Pansy is a lovely girl, I'm sure they'd get along. She's no Astoria."
"I'm not doing this..." Draco said unsurely.
There was a pause, and then Lucius turned to his wife. "I feel we got to him, no?"
A/N: I hope you like Narcissa and Lucius; we'll be seeing more of them in the coming chapters.
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