Hermione, Harry, and Ron Weasley lived at the same collection of flats in a section of wizarding London. Hermione stopped in to pack her belongings on the way to Malfoy Manor. Before she left, she stopped in at Ron's flat to tell him where she would be headed during the next few days.
Ron was absolutely beside himself when he discovered Hermione was about to go on a trip to Germany with Draco Malfoy. He had insisted on travelling with them. However, Ron's behaviour was so abominable during the first few minutes of contact with Draco that Hermione would hear none of it.
"You're going to let that pureblood ass take you to Munich and have his way with you?"
If looks could kill, Ron would have been mortally wounded, and it was because of the look Hermione gave him following that comment.
Hermione quickly reached Harry via fireplace message back at Andromeda's place and Harry found out he too would be travelling to Germany with Draco and Hermione. It was only then that Ron finally calmed down enough to let Hermione and Draco leave.
"I swear, sometimes that man will cause me to go prematurely grey," mumbled Hermione.
"Ever consider telling him to take a long flight off a short broom?" Draco asked.
Hermione burst out with a snigger and replied, "Only everyday."
"What do you see in him, Grang...uh...Hermione?" It was still quite difficult to call the girl by her first name.
Hermione went to answer, but nothing came out of her mouth until she said, "Well, it's complicated, you see."
"Ah. And this entire time, I thought he was quite simple."
Again, Hermione laughed in spite of herself.
"He is that, yes. It's probably the reason why he thinks it's a better idea for me to travel with two men instead of one. Figure that one out." Draco and Hermione shared a smirk at Ron's expense.
The pair of them Apparated to Malfoy Manor together. The austere living quarters were more sparse than ever, given that Draco and his mother had to sell quite a few heirlooms and tapestries to keep up their living standard.
Hermione stood in the foyer, gawking around at everything, evidently recalling the last time she had been there. It had been a long time, but apparently the girl's memory of the place and events that had happened there had yet to fade. She was trying desperately to hide it, but it was obvious that Hermione was having a flashback about what Bellatrix Lestrange had done to her all those years ago.
This was not lost on Draco; he took her hand and quickly marched her through the foyer and into his parents' wing of the manor. They stopped in the corridor. Draco saw that she still had the "mudblood" scar on her arm that Bellatrix had given her.
Once Hermione was out of the foyer, she started breathing normally again. "Thank you," she said, "and I'm sorry."
"No need to apologise, Hermione. Believe me, there are things that I saw done in this house that I'd just as soon forget, too."
In spite of everything, Hermione gave him a small smile. "I will never forget that you saved Harry, though. It would have been so easy for you to just tell Bellatrix that you knew it was him..."
"Rubbish!" Draco protested. "Me? Save a Gryffindor? I simply couldn't recognise Potter without his glasses is all." He shuffled his feet and briefly looked away.
"All the same," Hermione said, "thank you for letting Harry come along."
Draco threw his hands up in the air, and replied in frustration, "It's not like I have much of a choice, is it?" Then he swallowed hard. "Besides, I want to save my mother."
Hermione closed the distance between the two of them and said softly, "Is it okay if I go and see her? Or would that make you too uncomfortable?"
Draco considered a moment and replied, "No, it wouldn't make me uncomfortable. In fact, it would be nice to have her seen by...a friend. I don't have too many of those." He turned and walked down the corridor. Hermione followed quite discreetly, casting glances about the place.
Narcissa's little elf was outside the door, and spoke wide-eyed to Draco, "Mistress is still asleep. She would not like it if she saw this one in the house," the little female elf pointed to Hermione.
Draco found himself wondering how all house elves seemed to know the origins of every wizard and witch in existence. Then he said, "Breezy, my mother might not have liked it in the past, but that was before. Besides, you are to do as I tell you. Open the door."
Hermione clucked her tongue disapprovingly, saying, "You still have house elves working for you?"
It was well known that Hermione Granger was a proprietor of house elf rights. She also didn't seem to recognise that not all house elves were as disobedient as Dobby had been. Draco harumphed and said, "Yes, we have house elves working for us. Shortly after the war ended, we were ordered to set them free, but they all whined and wailed and were so aggrieved that the Ministry agreed to let us keep them, as long as we paid them wages and gave them a decent place to sleep. We were also ordered to give them clothes, but they refused to take them." Draco shrugged.
"Well, as long as you're being fair..." Hermione considered.
Trust Granger to always be on the lookout for the lessers, Draco thought with annoyance. Here he was, inviting her into his home to see his mother, and she was worried about their house elves. How very aggravating.
Breezy opened the ebony double-doors and Hermione followed Draco inside. The girl tiptoed ever so quietly behind him. Draco smiled to himself. Only someone like Hermione would worry about being loud enough to wake a woman in a coma.
"Well," said Draco, "here she is."
Narcissa was as white as bedsheets. Her severe beauty was muted, considered her current health. She looked drawn and still had a very pinched look to her face.
Hermione walked up the opposite side of the bed which Draco was on and took Narcissa's hand. Draco looked at the girl oddly. Was she going to talk to his mother?
"Help is on the way, Mrs. Malfoy," she said. "Draco is here, too. He wishes that you could have told him about who Arachne's father was, but he understands why you couldn't. Hopefully, your daughter can release you from your Vow and you can heal enough to meet her again."
Draco watched, incredulous, as Hermione spoke to his comatose mother. Although he'd probably just imagined it, he would swear the look on Narcissa's face relaxed just a little bit.
As Hermione continued to talk to his mother, Draco walked over to Narcissa's nightstand. He'd never noticed it before, but there was a little black book sitting there. It had initials stamped in gold on the front and looked quite old. The gilding on the pages had faded and the parchment had yellowed. Judging by the dates inside the book, it was a journal from before the time Narcissa had married Lucius.
Draco heard a sharp gasp and looked toward Hermione and Narcissa. His mother's condition still hadn't changed, so he looked to Hermione.
"What is wrong?" he demanded.
"Nothing is wrong! In fact, something might be going right!" Hermione exclaimed. She walked over to him excitedly and asked to look at the journal.
"What sort of interest would you have in my mother's journal?"
"This!" Hermione said, "this is why!" She pointed to the front of the little black book to the initials "N. A. B." stamped in gold filigree across the front.