Hermione waited with a restless impatience for Draco to return. He had been gone for almost four hours and no word had been sent back to the castle. By now Luc had stopped pacing and Hermione had taken up where he left off, but she liked to think she looked less suspicious doing it.
It was a relief to see that the view from the window was now clear of smoke and that she did not hear any further loud noises that would suggest a series of explosions, but it wasn't enough to completely allay her worries. Draco had been gone for so long… and she was only worried because she had to wait for his arrival to get her wand back. She felt decidedly uncomfortable without it, especially due to Luc's presence. Originally, Hermione had liked him but she was now unsure whether she had perhaps misjudged him. There was something slightly wrong about him; she couldn't quite put words to what it was, but he made her feel vaguely uncomfortable.
After Luc stopped his inspection of the room he had positioned a chair by the door and sat, stationed like a sentry, arms folded and with an alert expression on his face. Hermione felt edgy and uncomfortable cooped up in the room, but she had to admit that it was probably as safe a location as she could hope for. Even if her self-appointed bodyguard did give her the creeps.
Luc wouldn't allow anyone to enter the room; several servants had been sent away by Luc to run small errands that surely only served as a distraction, but neither did he allow her to leave. Hermione was miffed that the castle staff deferred so readily to him; her righteous indignation may have been felt on Draco's behalf and centered on the fact that Luc was essentially usurping Draco's position of authority, but most of that annoyance would surely be tied up in her resentment over Luc stealing her wand.
If only Draco would come back… she could reclaim her wand and Luc would have to stop playing this overblown authoritarian role… plus she would finally be able to silence that small part of her mind that was insisting she worry about Draco's safety. Hermione wiggled the large engagement ring on her finger, why was it that the thoughts she wanted to ignore were always the most persistent?
Hermione had her back to the door when it opened several long minutes later, but she knew almost instantly it had to be Draco. She didn't physically react to his presence; it wasn't that her heart sped up or that her skin came out in goosebumps, nor did the air in the room suddenly become charged with some sort of indefinable electricity. In fact there was nothing to signal his arrival other than the sound of the door opening. It was the silence that delivered the biggest clue, Luc hadn't ordered anyone to leave.
Turning in her chair, Hermione's eyes landed on Draco standing in the doorway and her face brightened, her lips stretched into a relieved smile. Their eyes held for a beat before she leapt up from her seat, and sped across the room. For a moment, Draco's eyes widened and his entire being appeared to relax. However, Hermione's attention was no longer on the man standing in the doorway, and Draco's demeanour changed when it became clear that she was not rushing to welcome him back, but rather towards Luc. Neither Hermione nor the other man noticed the telling physical signals of his initial, and ultimately premature, delight as Hermione had jumped up, nor the quick change that darkened his features. Hermione was much too intent on recovering her wand and Luc's attention was focused totally on the diminutive woman stalking across the carpet and scowling at him.
Hermione stopped close by Luc, who remained seated, and glowered down at him. Noticing Hermione's expression for the first time, Draco was half glad that her wrath was directed elsewhere for once; the rest of him was jealous that she was standing so close to another man.
She held out her hand expectantly, "Give it back now." It was an order.
Luc's face maintained its blankly pleasant expression as he stood from the chair and towered over Hermione, crowding her space. She had lifted her chin so as not to break eye contact, but otherwise neither person moved. Neither was willing to concede an inch of ground.
Finally, just as Draco's short store of patience was wearing thin, Luc broke into a grin. "But of course." And he passed the thin stick of wood into her outstretched hand.
She looked her wand over, felt its weight in her hand and swished it daintily through the air before pocketing it. She kept her hand over the pocket just to make sure. Hermione pointedly refused to thank him. He should apologise to her, if anything. However, just like every other Malfoy she had ever met, he didn't admit any fault. So as she turned to face Draco, she made sure to grind her heel into the toe of Luc's shoe. It may have been petty, but it made her feel infinitely better.
When they both focused their attention on Draco his face was once again a blank mask.
"What happened? Was there an explosion?" Hermione demanded.
He confirmed her fears with a slow nod of his head. "There was."
Watching the colour drain from her face Draco felt the need to clarify quickly.
"It was a case of a big bang, but not much boom," he shook his head. "That is to say, it wasn't anywhere near destructive as it was loud… no one was badly hurt."
Hermione still looked a little pale, but replied quietly, "That's fortunate."
He felt like an absolute monster for continuing and possibly worrying her further, but he couldn't leave it at that. Draco was certain that she would want further information soon, if not immediately. If nothing else, he might earn points by volunteering the information rather than making her work for it or find out later.
"No, it was calculated. This wasn't an accident, it was planned as a message. I'm obviously not moving quickly enough and not in the way these people want. It was a warning of their intent."
"How do you know?" It was a genuine question. She wasn't doubting his conclusion, but asking how he had arrived at it.
"It took place on a weekend so no one would be there, at the school on--"
She gasped, scandalised. Almost as if she hadn't heard of anything worse, hadn't lived through a war where essential infrastructure and innocent people were routinely destroyed. Of course, it was entirely possible she was scandalised. This after all was no war-time situation. In the heat of battle, morals are unclear, and both sides cross certain lines that would otherwise be inexcusable… Muggles had a term for it, the fog of war or something.
"A school?"
He paused, watching Hermione's face intently. Her voice was high and thin. Perhaps it reminded her too much of Hogwarts. Draco had found his own thoughts turning that way as he had surveyed the burnt out buildings and debris strewn grounds of the school. As soon as he had learnt what had happened and where, his mind had taunted him with memories of school children, their teacher and their enemies lying still and lifeless on the ground. It hadn't come to be this particular time, but who was to say the situation wouldn't escalate if he didn't act fast?
His eyes lifted over Hermione's head to glance at Luc. "I'm sure you can guess which one."
Luc remained silent, but with him still standing so close to her Hermione could almost feel his unease. Turning back, she could see the tension in his jaw.
Draco took something out of his pocket, "This was spelled to survive the blast. It sends the message pretty clearly." Shaking out the folded cloth, Draco held it out for them both to see. Emblazoned on the soot streaked material were dark letters spelling out: WE WILL NOT MIX
He walked across the room and almost collapsed into the chair Hermione had sprung up from upon his arrival, continuing flatly, "Our first experiment in mixed education. Over now. It wasn't popular to begin with and although some of the classrooms are still useable I have a feeling that after this the turn up will be so small that it won't matter that a vast majority now aren't."
"Mixed education? This is about girls and boys?!" Hermione asked incredulously.
He shook his head, "No. Mixed blood I suppose, but it's not the way I'd prefer to put it. Pureblood, Half-blood, Muggleborns all in the same classes. It hadn't been done before here, possibly won't be done ever again either."
Draco looked so forlorn, crushed even. His head was hung low and he just stared at his hands, fingers linked loosely, resting between his knees.
"Wait. Muggleb... b-but I thought this was an all wizarding province?"
"It is… or it was," his voice took on a bitter edge. "You will possibly remember the result of the old system, you did to go Hogwarts with me. Leaving here was the best thing that ever happened to me, although it took me a while to figure that out. Either way, it's ridiculous to shut yourself off from the world and pretend there's nothing different to what you know and have experienced. Or to think that those differences are necessarily evil. I wanted the eye opening experience I had for other people... so I changed things."
Luc piped in, "What Draco means to say is that he imports his Muggleborns."
Hermione glared at Luc, assuming that his comment has been a reference to her. He merely raised an eyebrow.
Draco snorted, "We do actually. How can you get Pureblooded wizards to respect Half-bloods and Muggleborns when they have never had contact with them? We opened up our school system to Muggleborn students across Europe, subsidised the tuition costs." He smile ruefully. "Until today, we had 16 Muggleborns. A small number all things considered, but it was a start."
"You should have seen him last time he visited the school and saw that youngster and his Muggleborn girlfriend." Luc walked up to Draco and clapped him on the shoulder. "It looked like this guy had a smile 10 foot wide."
Draco nodded. "It gave me hope. For so many things." He looked up from his hands and sent a small smile towards Hermione.
A/N: Boring boring boring. Filler filler filler. Okay not actually, just not a lot of smaltzy romance. Which we will get to soon, but sorry there's also plot to consider. Plodding though it may be...
Once again sorry that these updates are far and few between - having horror time of things lately. Now there's less horror and more things, so there are still problems, just not so horrible.
I want to say big thanks to all readers and reviewers, sorry I have ignored you all so long. To everyone : Your time is greatly appreciated, whether it's just clicking forward to read or taking that little extra to put in a couple of words once you're done. The least I can do is give my thanks. Yes, I'm officially back on the responding to reviews bandwagon. Ta!