Chapter 14 (part 2): At the Fair
Sophie and Adrien squealed in delight as their eyes devoured each ride, candy stand and game that littered around the expansive fair. Laughter accompanied by squeals of amusement was heard throughout fair, along with the vendors and game masters shouting to be noticed. Families and group of teens were everywhere, making it crowded despite the high rise of the sun.
Roller coasters, Ferris wheel and a lot more rides, they all reminded Hermione of the amusement parks she used to go with her parents. They were fond memories that always brought a smile to her face. However, these smiles were always sad because it also reminded her of the damaged relationship she had with her parents.
After the war, Hermione immediately looked for her parents and worked to restore their memory. It had been a huge risk to restore her parents' memory, not only on the state of their mind but also emotionally. She took it.
Her parents had been angry, upset and disappointed at her once they remembered. How could she choose a foreign world above her family? How could she abandon them and manipulate their minds like that?
But with it came back the unconditional love they had for their daughter.
They decided to stay in Australia, having already built a new life there and not wanting to remember the pain London represented.
Right after her separation, break-up seemed too immature a word, with Ron; she went to Australia to be with the only people she knew she could turn to, her parents. Despite their strained relationship, they took Hermione in with open arms. They nursed her and her broken self. They showered her and their unborn grandchild with love and affection. Harry and the Weasleys went to look for her there. They didn't know that Hermione had restored her parents' memory but that didn't stop them from directly asking for her. Her father nearly throttled Ron to the ground when he saw him but barely held himself, so he wouldn't give Hermione away.
They loved Hermione, and absolutely adored Sophie, but a scar had already been created by Hermione's choice. Things would never be the same but they were mending it and moving forward the best they can.
Sophie and Adrien ran toward the ride nearest to them and stared in amazement as the enormous machine lifted its arms that held the smiling passengers up and down, up and down. The different colored lights were alight despite it still being daytime.
"Mummy! Mummy! I want to ride! I want to ride!" Sophie clutched at Hermione's hand and jumped up and down, nearly dislodging her whole arm.
"Auntie Minny! Auntie Minny! I want to ride! I want to ride!" Her other arm wasn't fairing any better either.
Hermione smiled and nodded at them, just to get them to stop. Her head still wasn't at one hundred percent, maybe around thirty but it wasn't enough to help her handle the two fire balls.
She had planned to drink the potion for hang-overs that she had stocked away for emergencies. At the time she was making it, it had seemed like a ludicrous idea to even have a hang-over potion in an alcohol-free house. She had never been so glad she was wrong. Unfortunately, a certain blond git had gotten past every protective spell she had placed on her medicine cabinet, rummaged through it, and drank both vials for hang-overs. The nosy, unapologetic bastard. She had had to whip up a quick potion that wasn't as good.
The two children quickly got in line for the ride followed by a doting Narcissa.
"Hung over, Granger?"
"No, Malfoy, you're annoying."
"No, Granger, you're a prude."
He stepped up beside her. She gave him a sideways glare and saw him staring at the ride. She turned to face him and saw that he was looking at the muggle amusement machinery with curiosity and intrigue. His brows were furrowed, his silver eyes trained on the contraption and his lips formed a thoughtful frown.
"Awed at something made by muggles, Malfoy?" Okay, yes, it was petty to a make jab at his school-boy prejudices but she couldn't help it. She still saw him as that pointy-faced, snarling bully that wouldn't miss a chance to let her know how she wasn't worth the dirt under his shoes.
"No, not really. I'm awed that your letting my mother, an almost senior citizen, chase after your two noisy monkeys," he said, casually.
Hermione's eyes zeroed in on the elderly woman and the two children. Narcissa watched with adoring eyes as the two was boarded into a roller coaster, children's version.
Hermione frowned at his implication. "I'm not letting her chase after them. She insisted on watching them, and I'm right here if they need me. I'm not a bad parent."
"Whatever, Granger," Malfoy shrugged then walked away.
Fuming, Hermione went over to Narcissa before she did something she might regret in the presence of muggles and the children. Like accidentally wrapping Malfoy in Cotton Candy. Or attach him to the roller coaster's carts.
For the rest of the afternoon, the children rode on the different rides while Narcissa lovingly followed them and Hermione didn't see Malfoy's ever shiny head.
But that didn't mean he was out of her mind. Hermione sighed. She knew it was hopeless to hope that the saying, "Out of sight, out of mind," would actually work for her.
Why had he stayed?
From Hermione's memory, albeit a bit hazy, she knew he didn't drink much of the Firewhiskey. He could have flood or apparated just fine.
Why did he place that water and bucket near her bed?
She was sure she hadn't kept a pitcher of water nor a waste basket near her bed and it couldn't have magically appeared there without any one doing so.
These questions swirled in her mind as she helped set up the picnic blanket for some afternoon snacks, care of lovely Narcissa. They settled down on a slight hill, under a big tree that provided more than enough shade. The children happily wolfed down their share of cupcakes, cookies and pumpkin juice all the while chatted on about how much fun they were having at the fair.
"Where is that boy?" Narcissa said as she peered down at the amusement park.
Hermione looked up from her bag, she had just changed Sophie and Adrien's clothes, and towards Narcissa. "Where is who?"
"Draco. I haven't seen that boy all afternoon. He was supposed to be spending time with us," Narcissa huffed.
Hermione had the slight urge to tell Narcissa that her son was not much of a boy anymore but opted to keep that to herself. What use would reminding the older woman except give her the wrong assumption that she had been thinking of her son as a man. Instantly, she remembered their little encounter in the kitchen earlier that morning. She felt heat creep up her neck at the memory of the warmth that radiated off of Malfoy's body and how traitorously her body had reacted to his masculine one. Oh and how masculine it was. She reddened further.
"Maman? Tu vas bien? Tu es malade maman ? (Mummy? Are you alright? Do you have a sick, Mummy?)" Sophie peered at her and placed her cool, sticky palm over Hermione's forehead. " Tu as de la fièvre maman ! (You have a temptature, Mummy!)" Sophie exclaimed.
Hermione shook her head to get rid of her ghastly thoughts and smiled at her adorable little girl. She cupped her darling's face and wiped the crumbs on Sophie's mouth away with her thumbs. "Non, maman n'a pas de température, Sophie. Maman va bien. (Mummy doesn't have a temperature, Sophie. Mummy is fine.)"
" Mais ton visage est très rouge, tata Minny (But your face is so red, Auntie Minny)," Adrien piped in and Sophie fervently nodded her head in agreement.
"Yes, you do look a bit red, dear. Are you feeling alright?" Narcissa asked, concern showing on her face.
"Yes, of course. Must just be the heat. Here let me put up-" The afternoon heat was replaced by a refreshing chill that enveloped their little area and cooled the moisture on Hermione's skin.
"Done. I don't know why you haven't thought of it in the first place. Are you asking for your children to have heat stroke, Granger?" The drawled insult came from behind the tree by Narcissa's side. And sure enough the annoying voice was followed by the annoying man. Malfoy raised a judging eyebrow at her.
Hermione glared at him and reminded herself that there were innocent ears around. Before Hermione could answer his insult with a slightly veiled one, Narcissa beat her to it.
"Don't be stupid, Draco. She had just finished changing and freshening up the children," Narcissa chastised. "And where have you been? The whole point having you come with us is for you to spend time with us. Don't you think one of the best lawyers in France should be so smart as to get something so simple?"
Malfoy was staring out over the hill but Hermione saw the faint pink on his cheeks.
Hermione mentally thanked Narcissa. She couldn't have her children present if she were to verbally assault their "Mr. Hero."
Speaking of…
""M. Héros ! Tu n'es pas allé sur le gros bateau avec nous! (Mr. Hero! You didn't get to ride on the big boat and basket with us!)" Sophie leapt to her feet and ran over to Malfoy, grabbing one of his hands and dragging him toward the fair. Adrien followed suit.
"C'est vrai, M. Héros. Encore une fois ! S'il-te-plait ! C'est tellement drôle ! S'il-te-plait, M. Héros! (Yes, Mr. Hero. Let's go ride again! Please! It's so much fun! Please, Mr. Hero!)" The two persistent children pulled at both his hands not deterred in the least by the fact that weren't having an ounce of effect on the man except for making him feel and look uncomfortable.
Hermione enjoyed the wiped smirk off of Malfoy's face. She hadn't counted her revenge coming in the form of her two innocent little darlings. And it tasted as sweet as Narcissa's chocolate cookies.
As if feeling her glee, Malfoy's head looked in her direction and he looked like he very much wanted to murder her. She smiled sweetly in return. His glaring at her was cut short as the two continued to tug at his hands, this time pulling off their most lethal weapon. The puppy-dog eyes.
HA! Let's see you get out of that one, Mr. Arrogant!
"Yes, darling, do go with them. It'll be nice to spend some time with the children. You'll get your mind out of your work that I have with me." Hermione raised an eyebrow at what Narcissa had said. Did she just…. Did she just threaten her son with his work? Just so he'd go with the children?
Malfoy's frown deepened and glared at his mother. "I can have Dominique send copies of those. She always keeps copies of my files for work," he said, his voice emotionless.
"I convinced her to give me all the copies. Not easy since she is a very dedicated assistant of yours, Draco. I applaud her for that. But she gave in," Narcissa confidently answered back.
Malfoy's eyes widened and then they were filled with murder. "I don't understand the importance of riding these muggle contraptions that would require me to be taken from time for my work, Mother."
Narcissa huffed. "It's not riding the rides, Draco. It's the time that you spend away from work that is of the utmost importance to me."
Malfoy's face softened at this. Hermione was speechless. Narcissa had mentioned, more times that was necessary, the amount of work that her son had and, to be honest, she wasn't exactly surprised. Hermione knew from Narcissa's proud anecdotes that Malfoy was the youngest lawyer to ever achieve such a high position in a firm, and it seemed that even that wasn't enough for him. Again, not a surprise. Malfoy had been her competition back at Hogwarts. She had barely managed to get higher marks than him, since it was always that they both got perfect.
But what had her speechless wasn't that. It was how Malfoy loved her mother so much that he would give in to her, albeit begrudgingly. How human he was that he could love.
But of course he was human. Hermione felt slightly silly for thinking that he wasn't. Even if he didn't show this side ever and most probably only to his mother.
The two children, always oblivious to such complex emotions a few exchanged words invoked, piped in. "Eh, M. Héros. Tata Narcissa a dit que tu travaillais beaucoup et que tu étais tout le temps fatigué. Tu es fatigué, M. Héros? Tu veux faire la sieste plutôt que le bateau ? (Yes, Mr. Hero. Auntie Narcissa said that you worked a lot and that you're sleepy always. Are you tired, Mr. Hero? Do you want to nap and not take rides?)" Sophie asked, concern lacing her every word.
Oh, darling, if only you knew what he wants to do to us.
"Oui, je suis juste fatigué (Yes, I'm just tired)," Malfoy answered them a tad bit too quickly but the sigh he let out after lent truth to his statement.
Adrien couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice and face even if he wanted to. "D'accord, Mr. Hero. Tu dois faire la sieste pour ne plus être fatigué. C'est ce que papa me dit toujours (Okay, Mr. Hero. You should nap so you won't be sleepy. That's always what daddy says when he talks to me)."
Hermione saw a cloud pass over Sophie's face as her eyes filled with sadness and her head dropped. "Papa ne me parle pas à moi (Daddy doesn't talk to me)."
Anger and devastation gripped and lanced through Hermione's heart and not for the first time she wished a million Crucios to give the red-haired devil. She got up from her seat and immediately went to Sophie. She turned Sophie around to face her and cupped her daughter's forlorn face in her hands.
"He's just a bit busy, darling." Yeah, busy trying to take you away from me. "Why don't I go with you to the rides? You and Adrien can show me how much fun they are and which ones made you scream really loud." This was the only thing that she could do for her daughter; distract her from thinking about her father. She couldn't stomach telling her angel the lie that her father loved her when he clearly didn't.
The sadness didn't completely disappear from Sophie's eyes but it had somehow lessened. "Okay, Mummy," she answered softly, nodding her head.
Hermione wrapped her arms around her daughter, fighting back the tears that were burning in the back of her eyes.
I'm so sorry, Sophie. I'm sorry that your father doesn't love you. I'm sorry that you ever have to be sad because of him. I'm sorry your mummy can't make you as happy as you deserve to be. I'm trying, my love. Please forgive me. I'm sorry.
She tightened her grip on her daughter but Sophie suddenly pulled away, looking worriedly at her. "Tu pleures Maman (You're crying, Mummy)." Her daughter's little fingers wiped away the wetness she had been fighting off on her cheeks. "Pourquoi est-ce que tu pleures maman ? C'est de ma faute? (Why are you crying, Mummy? Did I do something?)" Sophie's brown eyes filled with immediate insecurity that Hermione cursed herself.
"Bien sur que non, mon amour. Tu n'as rien fait de mal. En fait, maman pleurait parce que tu rends très heureuse, Sophie. (Of course not, love. You didn't do anything wrong. In fact, mummy was crying because you make me very happy, Sophie.)" Hermione smiled at her daughter.
But Sophie didn't look convinced. "Mais tu pleurais et tu avais l'air triste. (But you were crying and sad.)"
"C'était des larmes de joie chérie. Je suis simplement heureuse. Et c'est grâce à mon petit ange. (Those were tears of joy, love. I'm just very happy. And it's because of my little angel.)" Hermione tickled Sophie's side, making the young child squeal in laughter.
"C'est bizarre, maman. Tu ne devrais pas pleurer quand tu es heureuse ! Tu devrais sourire ! (That's weird, Mummy. You shouldn't cry when you're happy! You should smile!) " Sophie declared, smiling brightly now.
The constricting in Hermione's chest eased a little. She wrinkled her nose at her daughter. "Je suppose que ça veut dire que ta maman est bizarre, mon ange. (I guess that means you're mummy's weird then, angel.) "
Sophie laughed. "Mais non maman ! Tu es incroyabe! (But you're not, Mummy! You're mazing!) " Sophie protested.
Hermione smiled softly at her daughter and ran her hand through Sophie's soft, red, waterfall of curls. "Tu l'es encore plus, Sophie. (You are more amazing, Sophie.)" Her little girl beamed at that.
Adrien launched himself at Hermione's side. "Je suis aussi incroyabe, hein, Tata Minnie? (I'm mazing too, right, Auntie 'Minnie?)" Adrien said, his blue eyes, much like her mother's, implored.
Hermione smiled down at the little boy she considered as her own. "Bien sur chéri. Sophie et toi vous êtes les plus incroyables du monde entier. (Of course, darling. Sophie and you are the most amazing in the whole world.)"
The two children cheered and went on about how amazing they were. Hermione felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Narcissa smiling understandingly down at her. Hermione stood up and kept her eyes on the children, not sure she could meet the eyes of the other woman.
Narcissa gave Hermione's shoulder a small squeeze. "This heat really is a bother. I'm going to take the children for some ice cream, will that be fine, Hermione?"
Hermione weakly nodded her head, keeping her eyes averted. "It's fine."
It wasn't that Hermione was embarrassed at the absence of a father figure in her little girl's life, in fact, Narcissa knew the struggles Hermione had faced with raising Sophie as a single mother. But that didn't change the fact that it was her son that was trying to help him take away her little girl.
Narcissa gave her shoulder another squeeze and went off with the children.
"You can't do that."
Hermione's gaze flew to the direction the statement came from and she glared. "What makes you think you have the right to tell me what I can and cannot do?"
His gaze was intense but his face was passive. "You should show her that you're strong. That she can trust you to be strong," he continued, ignoring her comment.
Hermione brows creased in confusion but kept silent. Because it burned her to admit it but Malfoy was right. She should show her daughter that she was strong. That even if her father wasn't there with them, she was. That she would do everything to be enough for her daughter.
Hermione's eyes swiveled back to the three returning to the fair to get some deliciously cooling sweets. "I don't understand why that's any of your concern. Last time I checked, you were threatening to take her from me. You're probably reveling in how weak I looked." Anger sparked in Hermione and she looked back to Malfoy, fierce determination shining in her brown orbs. "But make no mistake in assuming that I will not fight for my daughter, Malfoy. You are not taking her away from me."
Malfoy didn't even bat an eye at her threat. His face was as in-expressive as ever but something shifted in his eyes. "I know, Granger. She's your everything, right?"
Hermione's eyes widened as he said the words she had drunkenly confessed to him. She watched him warily as he approached her, stopping a few inches from her.
"I don't want to take your daughter away from you, Granger. This might come as a shock but I hate what Weasley's making me do." His voice was solemn as he said this, his silver eyes turned into steel with determination. "But there's somethingI need. And doing this is the only way to get it."
"Slytherin through and through. Doing everything to achieve what they want. Even if it's not right," Hermione venomously hissed at him.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "We all have something to fight for."
And with those parting words, he walked towards the direction his mother and the children had gone.
We all have something to fight for.
Those words rang in her head as she burned holes at the back of his head. She snorted.
Bullshit.
Draco caught up to his mother and the two brats near a store that sold the delectable treat. The two monsters were licking away at the sticky substance when they saw him approaching. They immediately launched themselves at him, wrapping their un-occupied arm around his legs. He grimaced; the sticky substance was surely covering his pants now.
"M. Héros! Tu as fait la sieste M Héros ? Tu n'es plus fatigué maintenant ? On peut aller faire du bateau maintenant M héros? S'il-te-plait ? (Mr. Hero! Did you take your nap, Mr. Hero? Do you feel not sleepy now? Can we go on the rides now, Mr. Hero? Please?) " Red-head, Granger said, looking expectantly up at him, her brown eyes sparkling.
"I thought you said you weren't feeling well, Draco. Is something the matter?" His mother peered at him, concern clear on her face.
He shook his head. "I'm fine. Uh, why don't you finish those treats then we can ride on those….things," he finished awkwardly, trying to get them to remove their sticky hands on his person.
The two cheered, jumping up and down, almost dislodging their sweets. They quickly finished their treats then washed their hands in a nearby loo before they were dragging Draco through the crowds and toward the rides, the blond-haired man looking disgruntled all the while.
It was when they've stepped in line that his mother decided to question him. "What happened? You obviously don't want to be here but you put up with it. Something's changed."
He gazed at the contraption that they were supposed to get on and what these two wouldn't shut up about, avoiding his mother's gaze. "You wanted me here and now you're asking why I am? Why, Mother, one would think the president of the gardening club would be smart enough to know that," he teased but the just wasn't enough life in his voice to make it convincing and only succeeded in making her mother even more worried. He sighed and placed a kiss on his mother's forehead. "I'm fine, Mother. Don't stress yourself. You already look old as is." He gave a half-smile.
The worry in his mother's eyes lessened but didn't completely disappear. "I couldn't look old even if I tried, darling." His mother looped her arm around his and smiled up at him. "Thank you for coming with us today. I admit that intervening between you and your work was drastic but I needed you here."
Draco shrugged. "You know I could never say no to you."
"You did earlier today," the blond-haired woman pointed out.
"You caught me unawares."
Narcissa conceded. "But you'll thank me one day."
Draco raised an eyebrow at her words and knowing tone. She obviously knew something but he didn't feel like probing at the moment. He just wanted to get this stupid riding over with.
"Next!"
"Yay!"
Bloody hell.
A/N: I deeply apologize for taking a so long to upload this. I'll try not to take too long to update. No promises though. Thank you to those that are still reading Her Hero. You guys are the reason I do this (Aside from my love of writing). I really hope that this chapter was worth the wait and please tell me what you think on the reviews.
P.S.: To those that might again question why Hermione is crying, again, I just wanted to stress the gravity of the situation. The absolute possibility that she might loose her daughter. And this particular part serves a purpose in a future chapter so please understand why she's being so weak and un-Hermione. The possibility of loosing your child does that to people.
Review!
