Hermione inhaled through her nose, breathing in the smell of early spring as she walked the outer corridor to Charms. It was now late March in the Highlands, and she was grateful for the temperature change. The courtyard had signs of spring coming to life, yet she felt bad for the early buds, knowing there would be another frost before the bitter cold finally gave up its hold on the weather.
Charms lessons currently consisted of the students practising a difficult banishing spell, which was the opposite of a summoning charm. However, it was simple enough for Hermione to reverse engineer the spell she'd worked on with Harry for his first task. Thus, she had already mastered sending a pillow neatly into a trunk in the corner of the classroom. It had been rather amusing watching Neville attempt the charm, only to have random objects being thrown about the room. He'd even managed to send Professor Flitwick flying, reminding Hermione of the time she had experienced the unfortunate sensation when her Skrewt sent her soaring.
Even so, Hermione looked forward to the class because it would give her time to talk to Ron and Harry.
And as if her thought about the duo acted as its own summoning charm, she could feel someone coming up beside her. Hermione turned, expecting to find either Ron or Harry and was surprised to see Theo smiling pleasantly.
"You heading to a lesson?" he questioned as he adjusted his school bag over his shoulder.
"Charms, actually," she replied. It had become more common for Theo to approach her in public, so Hermione wasn't too worried about being seen with the Slytherin. Harry and Ron had even come around to the idea that she was friends with the wizard. The only people who seemed put off by their association were the other Slytherins, but they seemed more upset with Theo than her.
"Nice, nice –" he said dismissively, cluing her into the fact he wasn't there to simply make small talk.
"What is it?" she questioned warily.
"Well –" he began. "Seeing that it's so nice out, I thought we could change our meeting place to somewhere outside. Secluded, of course."
Hermione huffed a small laugh. "It may not be frigid, but the wind is terrible. Harry had a Ministry owl deliver him a letter the other day, and the poor thing's feathers were a mess. In fact, I heard that many packages have gone missing due to owls being blown off course. And I doubt Malfoy would agree – could you imagine how he would react to the wind messing up his perfect hair?"
"You think I have perfect hair?" she heard Malfoy say. Hermione jumped slightly, not realising he'd been walking behind them.
She glanced back in slight embarrassment to see a smirk on his face, but he was looking elsewhere, obviously trying to look like he wasn't talking to her. Theo might have been getting bolder with his actions, but Malfoy usually acted like she didn't exist outside of TWAT, so the fact he was somewhat interacting with her in a busy corridor was a nice change.
"It was actually Mr Quiff who suggested the idea," said Theo. "I think he's tired of reading to Myrtle," he whispered loud enough for Malfoy to hear.
Glancing back again, Hermione could see Malfoy rolling his eyes, but the slight pinkness in his complexion suggested that Theo wasn't wrong in his assumption.
"Ah, yes. I'm surprised he's kept it up for this long," she chuckled.
"Well, the boy would do anything for some TWAT, so –"
Hermione snorted a laugh and watched Theo stumble as Malfoy purposely stepped on his heel. She was about to say something when the voice of Pansy caught her attention.
"Hey, Granger! Looks like your secret is out," she said as she waved a magazine around, then opened it up to read. Daphne Greengrass was standing over her shoulder, snickering. Hermione looked at Malfoy, whose eyes were wide.
Had someone discovered TWAT?
The witch began to read an article titled Harry Potter's Secret Heartache, and of course, it was written by Rita Skeeter.
"...not only has his girlfriend - the plain yet ambitious muggle-born - shifted her affections towards Quidditch star Viktor Krum, who has invited her to visit over the summer —" Pansy looked up with an annoyed expression. "Probably doused him with a love potion –" she huffed before continuing. "The young witch has also been seen embracing an unknown yet very handsome Slytherin boy in the darkened corridors of Hogwarts late at night."
"Guess we know who the Blood Traitor is," said Daphne, eyeing Theo accusingly.
Theo took a protective step in front of Hermione before shrugging. "I guess now we all know you think I'm handsome," he retorted amusedly. Daphne scrunched her face in disgust, and Hermione nearly laughed, having never seen the blond's perfect face so distorted.
"She's just an ugly know-it-all! Why would you even waste your time with such a filthy Mud–" Suddenly, Malfoy stepped in and spoke.
"Okay, Daph – leave him alone," he said in a bored tone. But Hermione knew from the look in his eyes he was furious. "Who cares what Theo and the Muggle-born get up to."
Daphne scoffed. "Oh, right. I forgot you've been hanging out with the Blood Traitor. Be careful, Draco, or you'll end up talking about Muggle nonsense like Blaise. Your father would be appalled if –"
"My father says that your father likes to fuck Muggle whores," he snapped. "And if you EVER try to suggest who I should or shouldn't hang out with, I'll happily call up Rita Skeeter and give a full exclusive on Walden Greengrass' proclivities."
The two Slytherin girls stood silently, mouth agape, while Hermione watched with wide eyes. It had been a while since she'd seen Malfoy's anger on such a display. Yet, witnessing his wrath directed at not only someone who deserved it – but for her benefit - was oddly satisfying. She never thought she'd appreciate that side of him.
Daphne stormed off when she saw Malfoy wasn't backing down, and then Pansy moved a few paces before slamming the dreaded magazine into his chest as Theo quickly took Hermione's hand to guide her away. She glanced back to see Pansy angrily speaking to Malfoy but couldn't hear what was being said. Instead, all she could see was Malfoy glaring at his friend as the witch stormed off before he threw the Witch Weekly into a nearby bin.
The whole interaction left Hermione's head spinning. Thankfully Theo tucked her into an alcove to help her gather her thoughts.
"Are you alright?" he questioned softly.
"I don't understand –" she began, shaking her head. "Why do they hate me so much? I know I'm simply a Mudblood to them, but –" She took a breath. "There are other Muggle-borns around they could pick on. Why is it always me?"
Theo brought her into a side hug. "It's because they're jealous, kid," he huffed. Theo had taken to calling her 'kid' after their first hug, poking fun at how short she was.
"What could they possibly be jealous of?" she scoffed. "I mean, they're beautiful and rich and pure-blood and —"
"Fuck that shite," cut in Theo. "They're jealous because you're a gorgeous Muggle-born witch who is extremely smart and talented. It goes against everything they know. I mean – Malfoy hated you for the same reasons, in case you forgot," he chuckled.
"Right, like he ever thought I was gorgeous," she said with an eye roll. Theo snorted a laugh causing her to furrow her brow. "What?"
Theo simply shook his head and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You are one adorably oblivious little witch," he said as if talking to himself. "But – anyway –" He tilted her chin up. "Keep your head high, kid. Who gives a rat's arse what Daphne fucking Greengrass and Pansy Prissy Parkinson think?" She smiled as she watched Theo smirking at her. "Besides, you've got two Slytherins in your corner now. And I know Malfoy doesn't outright show it, but you do realise he wasn't trying to defend me back there, right?"
Hermione shook her head. "Yeah, I know," she sighed, feeling better about the situation. "Thanks for the perspective, Theo. You really are a good friend," she said, giving him another hug. It was odd how quickly they became comfortable with physical affection. She chuckled, thinking about how Malfoy would react if she gave him unexpected hugs. He would probably hate it. The wizard seemed to go out of his way to avoid touching her - which was odd – he didn't think she was still filthy, right?
"We should probably head to our lessons before someone finds us and really has something for Skeeter," she heard Theo laugh and realised she was still hugging him tightly.
"Oh! Sorry!" she winced as she pulled back.
"See you later?" he questioned.
"Later," she confirmed with a smile. With that, Theo slipped away, and Hermione took another breath, ready to face the aftermath of Skeeter's horrible article. "Merlin," she said with a shake of her head. "Ron is going to be in a tizzy."
…
"Blimey, Hermione! How much chicken did you bring?" asked Ron as Harry carried a basket full of food that Hermione had "found" in the Hogwarts kitchens.
"It was left over from last night's dinner! The House Elves were going to vanish it anyway. Besides, I doubt Padfoot has had a decent meal in a while. I know he'll appreciate anything we give him. And I suspect Buckbeak will be hungry too," she huffed.
"I know Sirius will be grateful," said Harry reassuringly.
The trio made their way just past Hogsmeade, where Sirius Black said he'd be waiting for them. Sure enough, the teens found a large black dog huddled in a cave alongside the Hippogriff. Seconds later, Sirius stood before them, looking dirty and dishevelled, no longer in his Animagus form.
"Do I smell chicken?" he questioned with hungry eyes. Hermione gave a smug look to Ron, who rolled his eyes as Harry set down the basket of food. Sirius immediately began to eat while tossing a few bits to Buckbeak. Once the wizard had his fill, he adjusted his worn robes and ran a hand through his grimy hair.
They immediately began chatting about the tournament and the strange occurrence of Barty Crouch claiming to be ill. Sirius also told the trio how Mr Crouch's son was accused of being a Death Eater by his own father. Apparently, the boy, Barty Crouch Jr, died in prison.
After an hour and a half of intense discussion, Sirius began to wave them off, saying they should return to school. Harry and Ron said their goodbyes, but Hermione hung back, cleaning up the food.
"Are you coming?" asked Harry.
"Uh, go on ahead. I'd like to give a proper hello to Buckbeak," she lied.
The boys shrugged and began to walk away. Hermione stood awkwardly as Sirius gave her a curious look.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked softly.
Hermione thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to ask her questions without giving too much away.
"No — nothing wrong I— I'm working on a paper, um, comparing and contrasting pure-blood culture with Muggle culture and since, well—"
"Since I come from the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, you thought I could give you some insight?"
Hermione smiled, grateful she didn't have to explain further.
"Have there ever been any situations where a pure-blood family would— adopt?" she asked.
Sirius tilted his head and made a thoughtful face. "I could see the occasion would arise given the difficulties pure-bloods have with conceiving and bringing to term a healthy baby," he sighed. "Years of inbreeding. Even my poor cousin had her fair share of issues—"
"Cousin?" she questioned.
"Cissy," he said with a far-off look in his eyes. "Well, I doubt she goes by that moniker anymore— Narcissa Malfoy—"
Hermione's heart began to pound.
"Although last I heard, she gave birth to the Malfoy spawn about a year before I was sent to Azkaban-" he snorted. "Merlin knows the world needs anymore Malfoys running around," he said sarcastically while shaking his head.
"Draco," she said firmly.
"Ah, yes. Following the Black tradition, I see. He'd be in your year, then?"
"Yes, but— well, he's alright, I guess," she said dismissively, hoping he wouldn't connect Draco to her true reason for questioning him.
"Hmph," Sirius breathed and then began speaking again. "But back to your question - if a pure-blood family were to adopt, it would be more like a black-market deal, and the families would go to great lengths to hide the truth," he added.
"Makes sense," she said nonchalantly. "And—" she continued. "Would the adoption extend to - well - adopting a Muggle baby?" she asked, knowing that the Malfoys couldn't have known Draco would grow into a wizard.
Sirius let out a barking laugh. "Merlin, no. I don't think the pure-blood sort would ever stoop that low—" he grimaced. "Not that I think Muggles are low, but—"
"No, I know what you meant," she said dejectedly, but not because of his comment.
"This isn't about a paper, is it?"
Hermione froze, not knowing how to answer. Thankfully, Sirius took the hint to leave it alone.
"Better get on then," he said. "If I remember correctly, McGonagall doesn't take too kindly to students skiving off lessons," he said wistfully.
Hermione gave a polite smile and nod before exiting the cave. She looked back once more to see the man studying her. "Thank you for your time," she said timidly, causing him to grin.
"And thank you for the food, Hermione."
…
…
…
Draco sat in front of an unamused Snape as the man once again finished rummaging around his private thoughts. By now, Draco wasn't even embarrassed anymore. It had gotten to the point where Draco purposely tried to see how uncomfortable he could make his godfather. He was sure the older wizard felt like a pervert continually witnessing his godson's lurid fantasies.
Snape sat back in his seat, stoic as ever, before speaking.
"I know what you're doing," the wizard said calmly.
Draco kept his face equally as unemotional and responded with an innocent shrug. "I'm not doing anything. You're the one who insists on these meetings."
Narrowing his eyes, Snape leaned forward. Even seated, the man still had some height on Draco, and he tried not to flinch as Snape abruptly reentered his mind. This time Draco really was panicking, having not expected it.
Before he could recognise what his godfather was looking at, the man left his mind and sat back.
"It is in your best interest to cease this stupidity and end your association with Miss Granger and whatever you're...researching."
Draco didn't know how to respond. What had Snape seen? Did he see anything about the Blood Tapestry or just them researching in general?
"Leave," said Snape with a wave of his hand, clearly tired of dealing with Draco.
He rose to his feet and watched as Snape returned to marking papers, nearly about to outright ask what the man saw. Finally, Draco sighed and left the potions room, decidedly determined not to listen to Snape and instead investigate the mystery even more. He was annoyed that Snape refused to speak plainly about why it was so important to stay away from Hermione and work on Occlumency. Draco huffed a laugh, realising how much Hermione's Gryffindor-ness had rubbed off on him. As much as he hated the house, there was some merit to saying what you meant rather than speaking in thinly veiled passive-aggressive threats.
Draco began to walk to the library to see if he could find more news articles referencing the Swedes trying to get Muggle sciences back into their Wizarding curriculum. He had to hand it to Hermione; she certainly had a talent for thinking outside the box regarding research. It never occurred to him to look at old newspapers. As he roamed the corridors, Draco thought about the fiasco that had occurred earlier that morning.
He knew the article in Witch Weekly was rubbish, but he couldn't help feeling jealous that Theo didn't even deny that he'd been spotted "embracing in darkened corridors." Draco had seen the pair hug a few times – which was fine – totally fine. If Theo hadn't been so fucking incessant in pushing Draco to tell Hermione how he felt, he might feel threatened. But Theo claimed he honestly only thought of Hermione as a friend. However, it didn't prevent Draco from being jealous that the wizard could so easily be affectionate with the witch.
Of course, he could just as easily initiate a hug or something, but he knew it would probably make his pining worse, so he chose to stay as distant as possible without it being obvious. Hermione seemed to enjoy physical touch, as she was always hugging her friends or swatting them playfully. Draco grew up with barely an affectionate hug from his mother, so the idea of intentionally touching someone who wasn't related (and he fancied) made him nervous. He'd stayed away from touching Pansy when he thought she wanted to marry him, but now they were back to hugging and an occasional kiss on the cheek.
"Fucking, Pansy," he cursed. The witch was definitely miffed at him for what he said about Daphne's father. Funnily enough, he'd made the whole thing up, but clearly, it hit a sore spot with how the dumb blond reacted. Regardless, Pansy was upset and even went as far as to accuse him of being one step shy of a Blood Traitor. "Oh, Pans, if you only knew," he mumbled as he approached the stacks. He knew the periodicals were kept towards the Restricted Section, so he quickly made his way when he stopped short, hearing a familiar huff of frustration.
Draco turned a corner and saw Hermione sitting under a window with letters and envelopes scattered all over the floor. She seemed to be struggling to write something on a piece of parchment. Looking around, he could see no one was nearby and quietly approached the witch.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
Hermione's head shot up; if he wasn't mistaken, he could see the red undertone in her skin indicating a blush. "Oh, yes —" she started, then shook her head and sighed. "Actually, no." To his surprise, she threw her quill and crumpled the parchment in frustration. But for whatever reason, the action caused her to grimace as she held her hands close to her chest.
Draco finally sat down next to her. He awkwardly tried to cross his long legs like she was sitting and eventually moved to the window ledge in defeat. "How the fuck can you sit on the floor like that? My legs don't bend that way." He smiled when he saw her laughing, and she moved beside him. That's when he noticed how swollen her hands were. Not only were they swollen, but it also looked like pus was leaking out of her fingernails. "Merlin's fucking beard, what happened to your hands?" he said with a wince.
"Apparently, people weren't too happy about the "plain Muggle-born" breaking Viktor Krum's heart and sneaking around behind Harry Potter's back with a Slytherin pure-blood," she said annoyedly, gesturing at all the letters on the floor. "I've been getting hate mail," she said sadly. "I didn't realise what it was until I opened the first one, and well –" she held up her hands and scrunched her nose in disgust.
"Fuck, that looks painful," he said, now understanding why she was having a difficult time writing.
"I've got an essay due tomorrow, and I can't write anything remotely legible," she whinged.
"As if you could before?" he questioned with a laugh. Hermione glared at him, but he could tell she wasn't actually upset. Draco pulled out some parchment and his own quill. "Well, I'm not Skeeter's Quick-Quotes Quill, but if you tell me what you want to say, I can write it down for you. I don't think mimicking your atrocious handwriting will be too hard," he grinned.
"I'd hate to put you out. It's an essay for Muggle Studies," she said apologetically, but he could see she was holding back a smirk.
"I'll live," he said in feigned annoyance.
Hermione went straight into her essay, telling him exactly what to write. Unfortunately, his hand began to cramp, trying to keep up with her stream of consciousness on the topic of "Muggle Transportation."
When the witch finally paused to collect her thoughts before descending into another paragraph, Draco noticed a box of sweets at her feet. He quickly bent down and snatched one.
"Don't eat that!" she snapped.
Draco gave her a lopsided grin and popped it into his mouth while Hermione watched with wide eyes.
"Oh, come off it. I share my sweets with you and Theo all the time," he said after a swallow, nearly offended she didn't want to share with him.
"It's not that, Draco. Those chocolates came with the note that –" she held up her hands.
"Oh," he said, now mirroring her horrified face. He didn't even focus on the fact she'd called him "Draco", now worried about what would happen after having eaten sweets sent with the intent of harming Hermione.
"How do you feel?" she asked. Draco flinched when she put her hand on his forehead.
"F-fine," he said, unsure if he was sweating because she was touching him or because of the illicit chocolate.
"Let me know if anything changes –"
Draco nodded, and Hermione slowly began dictating her essay to him again. Finally, they made it through the paper without incident and collected their belongings.
"You look a bit paler than usual and—" Hermione furrowed her brow. "Malfoy, you're sweating so much you look like you're melting. Are you sure you feel alright?" she questioned as she tossed the sweets into a bin with all the letters.
"Erm – might be a little nauseous, to be honest," he said, holding his stomach. "And my head hurts a bit."
"You should go lay down. I doubt the person would have intended serious harm. Maybe find Theo so he can look after you?"
At this point, Draco was pretty sure the chocolate sweet was about to make a sudden reappearance, and there was no way he was going to hurl in front of Hermione. So, he waved her off and walked back to the dorms as quickly as he could. Once inside the Slytherin common room, Draco sprinted to the toilets just in time to get sick all over the floor.
"Holy shite!" He heard someone gasp.
Luckily, it was Theo who happened to be washing his hands under the tap to witness everything. Draco was blearily aware of the wizard trying to talk to him. Asking him something about if he was okay. All Draco could do was moan in pain as another wave of nausea passed over him, causing Theo to curse and say something about "new shoes."
Draco felt himself fall onto a soft bed he recognised as his four-poster. Theo must have helped him to his room. He could feel his shoes being removed before darkness overtook him.
…
"Ughhh," groaned Draco an unknown amount of time later. He could barely open his eyes when he felt a cool flannel being placed on his forehead.
"I wanted to make sure you were okay," he heard Hermione's voice say.
Great, he was dreaming about Hermione even in his deliriousness. Draco opened his eyes slightly to see the witch's face looking on in concern. He noticed that he was still in his dorm rather than at the bottom of a cliff as he usually dreamed. Although lately, whenever his dreams featured Hermione, they ended up in all sorts of random places, so it was only a matter of time before he fantasised about her being by his bed.
Suddenly, Draco felt his stomach roll as he squeezed his eyes shut. Even in his dream, he couldn't escape being ill. He immediately sat up and couldn't help spewing his guts in a projectile fashion, causing dream Hermione to shriek. He opened his eyes to see that he had thrown up all over her.
Draco didn't even apologise for doing such an undignified thing before he slumped back onto his pillow as things went black once more, his last thought being, 'Thank Merlin, it's just a dream.'
…
"Back in the land of the living, yeah?"
Draco groggily opened his eyes to see Theo hovering as Hermione had in his dream. "I feel like I got sat on by an erumpent, and the pressure forced everything out of my stomach all at once," he groaned, trying to sit up. He could hear Theo chuckling. "Does my pain amuse you?" he questioned in annoyance, but Theo continued to laugh.
"Just be glad it didn't come out the other end. I know Hermione will forgive you for – uh– spewing all over her, but I doubt she'd easily forget if you shat the bed."
Draco cautiously lifted his duvet to see that he, thankfully, had not shat the bed. But then he tilted his head. "Wait, what do you mean I spewed all over Hermione?" he questioned as the panic began to rise in his chest.
Had that really happened?
"Yeah, uh — see — apparently Potter has a fucking invisibility cloak, and Granger stole it and forced me to tell her the Slytherin password because she was so worried about you. She said that you looked awful because you ate some hate mail or something," laughed Theo nervously.
Draco swung his legs over the side of his bed and groaned into his hands.
"OH, FUCKING FUCK. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?" He finally looked up at Theo, who was wincing in guilt.
"Okay, before you hex me —" Theo held his hands up in surrender. "You know how persuasive that witch can be–"
"MERLIN FUCKING MORGANA'S CUNT, THEO!" shouted Draco as he stood up. "YOU LET HER IN MY ROOM?" He began to pull on his hair. "And I threw up all over her. Oh fuck —" he whinged as he began to pace back and forth. "Now all she'll think of when she sees me is ', oh look, it's the little boy who used to throw slurs at my face and now likes to have embarrassing bodily functions around me!"
"You've had more than one embarrassing bodily function around her?" Questioned Theo, practically giggling.
"NOT THE POINT!" Draco growled.
Theo rolled his eyes. "Oh, whatever. She's your friend. And when I saw her, she didn't seem upset at you."
Draco turned to glare at Theo, who finally looked slightly abashed.
"Right, Theo. FRIEND. But you know I don't want to just be friends with her! FUCK!"
"I'd say you vomiting all over the girl you fancy, and the fact she offered to come back and check on you again isn't a bad thing. Think of it as a bonding moment," said Theo with a grin.
Draco's heart swelled at the thought she wanted to return, but then his humiliation took over again.
"Right, yes. Lovely bonding moment. I'm sure she'll definitely choose the boy who takes her SPEW campaign literally over the I'm legally an adult and a professional Quidditch player," he scoffed.
"Oh, come off it. You know she doesn't give a fuck about Krum."
"He invited her to visit his fucking home over the summer," Draco grumbled.
"So?" said Theo, clearly unconvinced it mattered. "Besides, that's according to Rita Skeeter. And if you're going to believe everything that damn article said, then you'll have to believe Hermione is technically Potter's girlfriend whilst also sneaking around dimly lit corridors with yours truly," said Theo with an eye roll.
Draco tilted his head back with his eyes closed and took a breath. "Fine, yeah. You're right. I guess getting sick on her is better than saying something stupid in my delirium," he sighed in defeat.
Theo let out a laugh. "There's the optimism we need!"
Draco shook his head with a laugh. "Fuck you."
…
…
…
Hermione stepped out of the shower, grateful Draco hadn't gotten any sick on Harry's invisibility cloak. That might have been a bit difficult to explain…
She felt terrible knowing he probably wouldn't have wanted her to come into his room unannounced, but luckily the wizard was so out of it she doubted he would remember anything that happened.
"Theo," she then said in a huff, sure the boy wouldn't be able to keep quiet about what happened. Of course, she would have kept the incident to herself, but Theo happened to walk in moments after the disaster. Luckily, he was able to clean Draco up so she didn't have to suffer the embarrassment of changing his clothes and bedding.
Once her hair was dry, Hermione secretively returned the cloak to Harry's trunk and scampered out of the Gryffindor boys' dorm. As she descended the stairs, she caught sight of Lavender and Parvati entering the common room, having seen where she was coming from. The girls didn't voice their thoughts, but she could see on their faces they were judging her, and given the article that had come out, she figured leaving the boys' dorm only furthered the thought that she was a 'scarlet woman,' as Ron had said. Thankfully, he'd only been joking, knowing how Rita Skeeter worked.
Hermione held her head high, returned to her dorm, and sat on her bed, where Crookshanks immediately sat in her lap.
"Strange day," she huffed as she flexed her hands. The swelling had gone down considerably, and fortunately, there was no longer any pus leaking out of her fingers. She could only hope that Draco's ailment was also improving. Normally she would have laughed at Draco for being inconvenienced on her behalf, but he was really sick. He'd been so helpful in writing her essay that she could only think about making sure he was okay.
…
…
…
"See, isn't this nice?" came Theo's voice as Draco lay on a blanket Hermione had transfigured from her school robes.
The weather was unusually warm, and as Theo (or Draco, rather) had suggested, they decided to meet for TWAT in a secluded spot outside. It was awkward at first when he'd fumbled an apology for making a mess of Hermione's school robes – which – he grimaced at the thought that it was the very robes they were now currently lying on. But regardless, the witch said it wasn't a big deal, and then she apologised for invading his space.
Draco also said it wasn't a big deal, yet conveniently left out the part that he'd gladly have her sneak into his dorm again - preferably when he wasn't violently ill, of course.
"It is quite nice," Hermione replied with a content sigh. He could hear her shuffling around and looked over to see she was now on her stomach with her head propped up in her hands while she leaned on her elbows. "I learned something the other day –" she began softly.
The two wizards sat up, knowing she was talking about their research.
"What?" questioned Malfoy, wondering why she looked — sad.
"Well," she shifted into a sitting position and began to pick at the grass. "Did you know that some pure-blood witches have difficulties conceiving a child?"
Theo shook his head, indicating he wasn't aware.
"I assumed they simply didn't want to go through the process of carrying a baby out of vanity or something, but– I mean, it makes sense with all the - inbreeding," he grimaced. "That must be why so many pure-blood families usually only have one offspring. Two - if the first is a girl —" Draco trailed off.
"Has your moth– has Narcissa ever mentioned that she struggled to, er – conceive?"
Draco scrunched his face. "Salazar, Granger. I know the witch isn't my birth mother, but she did raise me. I don't want to think about her and Lucius –" he grimaced. "Trying to conceive."
"I heard that she struggled with it," said Hermione flatly.
Draco looked at her curiously. "Where the fuck did you hear that?" he snapped, causing her to flinch. He hadn't meant to ask so angrily, but the thought that that information was just out there made him uncomfortable. "Sorry," he quickly added. "Who told you?" he asked softer.
Hermione continued tearing up the poor shred of grass into tiny pieces, seemingly uncomfortable divulging her source.
"Granger, please…" he pleaded.
"Sirius Black," she confessed quietly and then bit her lip. "I– he's – we–"
Draco held his hand up. "It's fine – I'm not going to ask. In fact, I'm pretty sure I already know that you and the dunderheads probably make frequent visits to the man, wherever the fuck he is. He was burnt off my family tree, and at this point, I'm only going to assume that makes him one of the good ones," he huffed in frustration.
How many fucking secrets did his family have?
"Thank you," said Hermione.
"So, are you suggesting that the Malfoys – what? Adopted Draco because Narcissa couldn't produce an heir?" questioned Theo, cutting right to the heart of the matter.
"It's possible. Sirius explained that - although he didn't know for certain - it wouldn't be uncommon for some kind of black-market baby dealing if an heir was needed."
"Wait, but if they bought me – I mean –" Draco huffed a hollow laugh. "It doesn't make sense. Why would they want a Muggle baby? Wouldn't they have wanted a baby they were sure to be magical?"
"That's exactly what I wondered," said Hermione, now sounding more confident. She was probably more relaxed knowing Draco wasn't mad at her regarding how she acquired the information. "But it is the closest we've gotten to the issue. If Narcissa couldn't have a baby, maybe they would have been desperate enough to adopt. Even a Muggle one."
Running a hand through his hair, Draco gave a heavy sigh. "It's plausible." He leaned back on his elbows, contemplating his following statement. "I think you're right –" he began, causing Theo and Hermione's eyes to widen. "Not necessarily about the Malfoys adopting me," he added. "But you're right in that I think we need to take our research outside to the Muggle world, as you suggested a while back," he stated firmly. "Just look up my family's fucking names and be done with it."
Hermione smiled at him. "I think that's a brilliant idea. Although, we'll have to wait until the end of term. Then I can go home, and I'll owl you both whatever I find."
The three teens agreed to the plan and eventually fell back into a peaceful silence. Although, Draco's mind was anything but peaceful. Had he actually been purchased like some piece of furniture to decorate Malfoy Manor? Did his birth parents care so little for him that they'd willingly sell him off to strangers? Not even bothering to name him?
But before Draco could spiral further, Hermione's voice pulled him out of his head.
"How do you think she does it?" the witch questioned.
"Who does what?" chuckled Theo. Both boys were now used to Hermione changing topics and asking random questions without much context.
"Rita Skeeter –" she began. "Eavesdropping on everyone. How did she know Krum invited me to visit him this summer?"
Draco felt his heart lurch in his chest. Krum actually invited her? He could hear Theo and Hermione casually conversing but couldn't discern what they were even saying, too distracted by his disappointment.
"He – he really asked you to visit?" The words fell out of his mouth before he realised his thoughts were no longer staying in his head.
"Yes," sighed Hermione.
"Oh –" he didn't know what else to say. But once again, his thoughts left his mouth without his permission. "I didn't realise you two were –"
"Oh, no!" laughed Hermione. "No. I told him no, of course. I mean, he's nice and all. But he's a bit more – physical and rather lacking in conversational skills," she chuckled.
Draco felt the hope swell in his chest, knowing that Hermione wasn't with Krum, nor had she any intention of visiting him. But then he internally cringed when he picked up on her claim that Krum was physical. Whatever the fuck that meant.
He could hear Theo snickering, and Draco immediately elbowed him in the side. Luckily, he knew Hermione wouldn't think anything of it, having been used to the boys jabbing each other for weeks now. He could hear her huffing the word 'boys' in amusement.
Suddenly, Hermione sat up straight, causing Theo and Draco to freeze.
"I just had an idea!" she exclaimed before giving the two wizards a once-over. "Come visit me," she finally stated.
"Uh – visit you where?" questioned Theo. Draco was equally confused.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "This summer! Come stay with me – both of you! We could research in the Muggle world – together!"
Draco looked at Theo and then back at Hermione, who had a manic grin. "You want us – to stay– with you – in Muggle London?" he questioned, unsure if he heard her correctly.
"Muggle Oxfordshire, to be exact, but yes!" she said cheerily.
Draco felt unsure about the idea, but he could see Theo smirking. "Come on, Draco! Summer TWAT! What could be better?"
"Oh, please –" laughed Hermione.
"What would I tell my parents? I mean – I can't just not go home –"
"Say you're staying with me, of course," said Theo as if the answer was obvious. "My father doesn't give a fuck about what I get up to, so he won't even notice."
Draco looked between his two friends and took in their eager faces. He couldn't deny he was nervous about spending an extended amount of time among Muggles — but it also meant an extended time with Hermione (and Theo).
"Fuck, okay – yeah. Let's do it."
Theo slapped him on the back. "Fuck yes! You and me taking on the Muggle world!" said Theo with a mischievous smirk. "Now we just need to finish out fourth year with no major issues, and soon you and I will be livin' it up with the Grangers!"
"I'll owl my parents and confirm it with them!" said Hermione excitedly. "I'm sure they'll say yes. They've been asking to meet more of my friends from Hogwarts. They've only met Harry and Ron so far, but neither has ever been to my house."
"Well, in that case, sign me up for the summer," said Draco with a smug grin.
Draco Malfoy in the Muggle world.
What could possibly go wrong?