The rest of the day ended up running pretty smoothly. They laughed about and drank butterbeer and watched Seamus try to impress the girls in the booth to the side. It looked as though it was going relatively well.
Hermione had a lovely day, the attacks still sat firmly in her mind but she was able to convince herself that the ministry would find out who did it and they would be punished adequately.
It was late in the afternoon and they were sitting in The Three Broomsticks drinking what would be their last butterbeer of the day. Luna and Neville had gone for a walk around the village together. Harry and Ginny had started upon an old argument and Ron sat at the table with Hermione, the both of them feeling slightly awkward.
"So when are we to meet this girl you've been sneaking about with?" Hermione leaned over to Ron with a little smile and he took a breath in, his eyes widening. "Oh come on, it's just me."
She had hoped that maybe they could get straight back to being friends and it seemed like finally things were looking up for them.
"Well, actually, I… well, maybe next week then, when we have some time." His cheeks flushed a little.
"So what's she like then? Is she in our year?"
"Steady on." Ron looked taken aback but he seemed quite happy that someone was asking him.
"Oh don't be so reserved." She smiled.
"Well, she's in Ravenclaw, and yeah, she's our year. Her name's Katherine but she… she likes Kate." He smiled a little and started to talk more about her.
Hermione smiled warmly as she listened, he seemed to like her quite a lot.
When the pub began to get quiet, Dean and Seamus came back over to the booth and sat down.
"No luck?" Hermione asked.
"It was fine." Dean said through gritted teeth.
"Go ahead, you go on and tell them what happened." Seamus was positively beaming while Dean just rolled his eyes.
"I don't know why you think it's so funny."
"Oh I know you do." Seamus laughed.
"What's going on then?" Ron asked, his interest peaking.
"They both wanted to know if I wanted to see them again, both of 'em." He was grinning again and everyone around the table laughed, all except Dean.
"Yeah, yeah, well don't let it go to your head." Dean said, rolling his eyes again.
"Bit late for that don't you think?" Ron chuckled.
They all knew that they were due back at the castle soon and so they downed the last of their butterbeer and headed back. Seamus was very clearly happy with himself and Dean was sulking. Harry and Ginny weren't talking, for one reason or another, and it seemed the only two who were acting like themselves were Ron and Hermione.
They giggled at one another about the demeanours of the others until they reached the train.
"So what are you doing tomorrow then Hermione?" Ginny asked once they were seated.
"I suppose I'll just be studying like always." She shrugged.
"Not sneaking around with your new secret boyfriend?" She said.
She looked a little upset; perhaps it was her argument with Harry but whatever it was it didn't look good on her.
"I don't have a new secret boyfriend." Hermione rolled her eyes and laughed.
"Come on Gin, leave her alone." Ron smiled over and Hermione nodded to the both of them.
"So do you want to talk about your secret girlfriend?" Ginny folded her arms, Ron always made things worse with Ginny.
"He was actually talking quite a lot about her before, you were just far to engrossed in your conversation with Harry to notice." Hermione said.
She realised after that it probably sounded a little snappy, and she didn't mean that.
"Well I'm sorry." She folded her arms and turned away from the others.
They all looked around at one another and Harry shook his head a little. Hermione knew when to stop probing and she would have to talk to Harry later on, they all sat rather tensely for the rest of the train ride.
In reality she wasn't going to be studying all day, tomorrow was her day with Draco, for a few hours anyway. She did need to study a little bit. She really did want to tell Ginny, but she knew what her reaction would be already. Sadly she knew that the more she prolonged telling them the worse the revelation would be.
They reached the station and headed back to the great hall for a light supper before they went back to their common rooms. Ginny went straight up to her dormitory and Dean and Seamus headed to their books to make themselves feel better about doing minimal amounts of study. The trio sat themselves down by the fire.
"I told you that she was a bad idea." Ron nodded to Harry who laughed a little.
"She's not that bad, it's just when she gets into a mood."
"I could have told you that." Ron sighed and slumped down in the armchair.
"She's just worried about what's going to happen with the two of you next year when you're gone and she's still here. Not to mention that it's almost a year since Fred… since the war and that probably makes her sad." Hermione offered.
Ron shrugged and began staring into the fire. Any mention of his lost brother usually sent him into a quiet patch. Hermione felt that familiar sting in her eyes when she thought about everyone. Even after all this time she still got choked up, maybe it would be like that always.
They didn't stay up too much longer, it had been a tyring day and they were all well and truly ready for their heads to hit the pillows.
Draco woke up late the next morning. He had lain awake for most of the night thinking about what they did to the three aurors. He knew that he hadn't directly been involved but he had known that something was going to happen; it was just a matter of time. Not just that, he knew that there would surely be other things to come. He just didn't know what, when or where. He didn't really want to know either, the more he knew, the more guilt he felt.
Pansy was sinking right into her role within the group. He knew that they saw her as just a means to an end and that he was the one that they really wanted to test but if she was willing to actively work on the inside then who were they to deny her that?
He couldn't wait to see Hermione later; he just hoped that she wouldn't bring up the attacks. That would put a damper on his mood. He realised that he had missed breakfast but he wasn't overly hungry so he just waited until it was time to see her. It seemed as though that was all he did lately, and that was just fine.
"What did you want to be when you were younger?" Hermione asked as they lay on the fuzzy carpet staring up at the enchanted summer sky ceiling.
They were lying with their cheeks pressed together and their feet pointing in opposite directions.
"I don't know." He shrugged.
"Oh come on, you had to have some kind of idea about what you wanted to be." She smiled, her eyes closed.
"I don't know, what did you want to be?" He said again.
"I wanted to be a dentist." She chuckled to herself.
"Why would you want to do that?" Draco shuddered a little; the idea of doing something that involved quite a lot of being in someone else's mouth made him shiver.
"Because that's what my parents did." This time she shrugged. "Remember I didn't know that I was a witch until I was eleven."
"Yeah, right." In truth he had forgotten about that.
Sometimes she seemed so much like an actual witch that he forgot that she was muggle-born.
His eyes shot open at that thought, it was so much like the person he had been programmed to be. He knew that she was a better witch than he was, that had always been true. He had just always been taught that witches who didn't come from a pure bloodline didn't deserve their wands.
"Dad? Why can't Annalisa come to play?" A seven year old Draco asked his father.
He used to play with the little girl down the road who was about the same age as him, until his father had found them together.
"Because Draco, she's a mudblood." Lucius said, barely looking up from the prophet.
"Lucius!" Narcissa hissed and he looked up from his paper. "I don't want to hear you using language like that with him. He's just a child."
Draco looked from one to the other, not even sure what they were talking about.
"Fine." Lucius rolled his eyes and turned back to his bright eyed little boy, so oblivious to the world in which he was living. "Draco, in this world there are some wizarding families that are better than others. We don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort now do we?"
"Why are they wrong?" He asked and Lucius looked up to Narcissa, almost as if he wanted to share all of his information with him. Narcissa shook her head warningly and Lucius curled his lips.
"Well Draco, we are what you call pure-blood, and that means that we are at the top, we have the strongest bloodlines. Then there are blood-traitors who sympathise with the mud – muggle-borns. And then there are the half-bloods who don't respect the nobility that there is in magical blood. You don't want to associate yourself with the others Draco, don't lower yourself to their standards, or lack thereof." Draco looked up at his father, he still didn't understand, Annalisa was so nice and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her. "You can play with Vincent the next time his father brings him over." Lucius went back to reading the paper, sneering at every second headline.
Draco walked back over to his chair and picked up one of the many books in his 'to read' pile. He never really had toys, not as he started to get older anyway. His parents wanted him to excel in his magic and become a great wizard.
Annalisa wasn't a muggle-born, she was a second generation half-blood, one of her grandmothers was a muggle. He wasn't allowed to play with her because her family was made up of muggle-sympathisers. That was something that Draco's parents looked down on and they snubbed anyone who dared to speak up for a muggle or blood traitor alike.
"Draco?" He was pulled out of his flashback by the sound of Hermione's voice.
If his father could see him now he would absolutely drop dead with rage.
"Sorry, what were you saying?" He said.
She laughed. "All I said was that it only got so much harder when I realised that there was this whole secret world out there. It really made things harder. What were you thinking about?"
"Oh, nothing really." He mumbled.
"You must have wanted to be something at some point in your childhood."
"Are you still going on about that?" He smirked.
She rolled over to look down at him. "I just want to find out more about you."
"Why?"
"Well because… because I want to know about more than just the last few years, I want to know everything." A lock of hair fell across her face and he reached up to brush it back.
"I really can't imagine why."
"I guess you could call me somewhat of an overachiever." She looked down with a smile, more hair falling over her face.
"I wouldn't have expected that." He grinned.
"Come on Draco… I just want to know you." She whispered.
He felt that familiar warmth spreading through him. This was the first time anyone really wanted to know something about him without having an ulterior motive. He could get used to it.
He rolled over onto his side and pushed her hair back again. He knew that she liked it when he did that.
"Well… I suppose that there was a time when I… well… when I wanted to be…"
"An auror?" Lucius demanded of his now ten year old son.
"Yes, it sounds like a lot of fun." Draco shrugged.
"Fun? Now Draco, it takes a lot of time and work to be an auror. What you should be doing is looking for investments. That is where the money is, and it comes in handy when you need places to hide things."
"Lucius…" Narcissa warned.
"He will have to learn it one day Narcissa!" Lucius snapped. He turned back to Draco who was looking mildly confused. He was used to them arguing over what to tell him and what to teach, he just wasn't sure why his father was trying to talk him out of this. "Perhaps having you as an auror may prove of some use in the future, but I dare say that it is too far ahead to even matter in that regard. Who knows if they will even let you into the auror program?"
"And why would you suggest that they might not let him in?" Narcissa asked, flicking her wand over to the cauldron she had just been stirring so that it would resume by itself.
She folded her arms and walked over to her husband and son sitting by the fire.
"Can you not imagine?" Lucius said.
"Are you saying… are you trying to tell me that he's coming back?" Narcissa raised an eyebrow.
"Come now Cissy, it is far too early to be talking of that."
"You know it's rude to leave someone out of a conversation." Draco cut in and Lucius turned his lips up into a half sneer.
"I see you have a bit of a temper there boy. Nothing wrong with a bit of fire in the blood." He grinned.
"So long as it's pure." His mother gave Lucius a little smile before sweeping back to her potion.
Draco stood with a pout on his lip, not really understanding what it was that they were talking about. Lucius looked back to his son and smacked him with his paper.
"What was that for?" Draco growled.
"You need to learn that what is on the inside needs to be kept there. Don't go around pouting like some unprivileged half-blood. You are of noble blood and breed and we do not pout. Do something about it if you must, but be clever. And enough of this auror business. We will figure out what it is you will do after school when we get to it. You never know, you may be of better use in some other field."
"He really told you that you couldn't be an auror?" Hermione asked after Draco briefed over his memory to her.
"Not in those words." He said, lying back down.
"I can't believe that your own father would use you like that." She chewed on her lip as she thought about it.
How dare he deny his only child the right to a future of his choice? It was just wrong.
"Clearly you don't know anything much about my father." He closed his eyes and sneered, the same sneer that his father had pulled.
Sadly it seemed to be one of the many things that ran in his family.
"So what did he want you to be?" She asked, running her fingers gently through his hair.
He shrugged. "It changed a lot, depending on what would best suit him at the time."
"Like what?"
"I think it started out as a banker, that way I'd have access to all the accounts and businesses and he knew quite a few people who would be 'just my kind of clientele'. At one point he wanted me to top the board at Hogwarts so that I could have a say in who would be allowed in. He had quite a few notions over the years." Draco sighed. "Then it got to a point where he needed me to do the bidding of him, and we sort of stopped discussing any future plans after that."
Hermione's heart ached for him, luckily he couldn't see the look on her face, he hated it when she felt sorry for him. She could see that this was going to put him in a bad mood, or worse a non-responsive one so she decided to lift the mood.
"Did I hear you say 'all the accounts' just before? Just how many accounts do you have?" She saw the sly grin spread across his face.
"You have no idea."
"You can't possibly be that wealthy."
"My ancestors had a pretty decent fortune, and that's by today's standards, it's only increases since then." He said.
"So how much of that is yours?" He opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow.
"You know, you're starting to sound like you're only interested in my financials." He said with a grin.
She shoved him over a little and he jolted up and grabbed her, pulling her over beside him.
"You know that's not true." She kissed him quickly.
"I know, but it is quite an attractive quality of mine." He smirked.
"Oh really?"
"Are you saying that it's not?" He smiled, leaving little kisses on her jaw, causing her to giggle.
"I'm saying that you have many other attractive qualities that come first." She took his head in her hands and pulled his face in close to hers.
His big grey eyes were almost a bright blue as he smiled back at her. Her lips found his and parted to take him in. His kiss deepened and she closed her eyes, sighing as he locked his hand in her hair. His hot breath washed over her face and as his tongue cavorted with hers in a way so exquisite that it sent a shiver over her entire body.
She let her hand brush over his stomach and she felt his hand tighten in her hair.
All he wanted to do was let himself lose control with her but he wouldn't let himself. He pulled his lips away from hers and brushed another strand of hair away from her face.
She looked into his eyes again. She didn't want him to pull away so she whispered to him.
"Dance with me?"
"I think we'd look a little silly without music." He said.
She looked over his shoulder and he turned to see an old gramophone in the corner.
"Very clever." He shook his head a little.
"Besides, who is there to see us?" She stood up and pulled him with her, flicking her wand over to the player causing classical music to pour out and fill the room.
She looped her arms over his shoulders and he wrapped his around her waist. She stood up on her toes and they swayed gently.
"Let's just stay here, forget about everything else." She rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes, focussing on the music and his heartbeat.
"Gladly." He said, knowing that she could never understand how much he meant it.