"Why am I here? Why am I here? Why am I here?" Hermione muttered to herself over and over again as she pressed on up the long drive before her. The trees seemed to be closing in on her and her feet kept catching on weeds between the cobblestones, making the walk as dangerous as it was utterly frightening.
She finally reached the large home at the end of the drive and rapped the serpent shaped door knocker twice. -tck tck-
The door cracked open and then immediately shut again before Hermione could see who was there. She heard the sound of many locks clanking and unhooking and the door opened once more to reveal a rather disheveled looking Narcissa Malfoy. Her hair was unkempt, her makeup undone, and her robes wrinkled. There was a stale smell hovering about her.
"What do you want?" she hissed through clenched teeth. Clearly she was not expecting any visitors, let alone her unwanted daughter-in-law.
"Lovely to see you too," Hermione chirped sarcastically. "It's about Draco. May I come in?"
Narcissa pondered the question for a moment and then stepped aside, gesturing curtly to the drawing room. "Have a seat. I'll be with you in a moment."
Hermione entered the dusty room and perched herself on the edge of the sofa, afraid to touch anything for fear of breaking a family heirloom, or worse, of getting cursed by an object that seemed relatively harmless. The last time she had been in this place, she had been tortured to near death. She would not have ever returned had she not been completely desperate.
The walls of this particular room were covered with portraits and paintings, all clouded over with a layer of dirt and grime. Hermione had never been inside this room of the manor before, but she found it hard to picture Draco belonging here. It was too dark and dank, even for the person he had once been.
"My apologies for the state of things," Narcissa said as she swept into the room. Her hair was now pinned back and her robes had been quickly pressed. She was carrying a tea tray with her.
"The house elves all disappeared after the war- gone to live with my sister Andromeda I'd suspect. Except for Dottie over there, but she's practically useless. She just refuses to leave my side." Narcissa gestured to a timid and elderly house elf standing in the corner. Hermione hadn't even seen her there. The elf was wearing nothing more than a pillow case much like Dobby used to wear when he worked for the Malfoys. "Family loyalty got a new meaning for them with all the liberation. And look where's it gotten me." She slammed down the tray on the coffee table and busied herself pouring two cups.
"Cream and sugar?"
Hermione nodded silently.
Narcissa handed her a cup of tea and leaned back in her seat. "So. Tell me. Has Draco finally left you? Have you come to grovel for my help to win my son back?" Her gloating smile made Hermione sick to her stomach. She knew convincing Narcissa to help her would be next to impossible. If there was anyone in the world Narcissa would be willing to help it would be Draco, but would she help him with this?
Hermione let out a quick breath to calm herself. "Not exactly," she began. "Have you been reading The Daily Prophet?"
Narcissa shook her head. "No one comes out this way anymore. Not with word of Lucius'... illness." She hesitated on the last word. "That includes owls apparently."
At the mention of Lucius' name, Hermione's face glazed over with fear. The house was entirely too quiet, and for all she knew, Lucius was lurking in the shadows waiting to jump out and off her.
Narcissa waved her hand nonchalantly, picking up on Hermione's fear. "Not to worry. He's preoccupied at the moment. He told me this morning that he's on the verge of a breakthrough and is not to be disturbed."
Hermione didn't know whether that made her feel better or worse, but she continued with what she came for nonetheless. The sooner she got to the point, the sooner she could leave. "There was an accident about a month back. You remember, surely? Lucius... he- erm- he hurt Draco. They tell me you were there."
"No, no, no," Narcissa scoffed. "He might have gotten a bruise or two, but Lucius is practically harmless in his current state. How could he have hurt Draco?"
Hermione bit her lip and chose her words very carefully. "Draco, he lost a lot of memories that night. Lucius is far from harmless. Draco thinks he's sixteen- that he's still on a mission to kill Dumbledore. He thinks everything around him is a hoax and he's been asking for his father. You know that's the one person I can't bring to him. On that much I'm sure we agree."
Narcissa took a long sip from her tea cup, staring at Hermione intently. "What you're saying is that my son has no recollection of ever marrying you? No memory of the child? His job? The war?"
Hermione set her jaw in annoyance, but nodded. "Not yet. The healers think it will all come back in time, though." She needed to put a pin in any ideas that Narcissa was cooking up to put her family back together like it had never fallen apart in the first place. "The trick is that he doesn't believe any of it happened, and because he doesn't remember anything past school, I'm the last person he's likely to ever believe. I need your help."
Narcissa let out a long laugh. "My, my, my," she said. "You need my help to convince my son why he needs you instead of me?"
Why had she thought this would be a good idea? Hermione sighed. "No, I need your help to convince your son that the life he chose for himself is real. And you know you're more than welcome to be a part of it, Narcissa. This life of seclusion was one you chose. Much like Draco's life with me was the one he chose."
"No," the older woman snapped. "You chose my fate for me. You, Potter, and his merry band of followers. After the war, no one would give Lucius or I a second glance. We lost all of our status, all of our support, and because of you, we lost our son. He's the only thing in this world that matters, and he wants nothing to do with me."
"You had lost your son long before I came into the picture," Hermione muttered bitterly. "Stop trying to shove off the blame on me." Hermione thought back to all the stories Draco had shared with her of moments he had grown apart from his family after the war. She knew his decision to live apart from them had nothing to do with her, and everything to do with himself.
Narcissa set down her tea cup and folded her arms across her chest. "If you're trying to convince me to help you, you're doing a poor job."
"Don't help me, help Draco. Someday he'll remember everything on his own. He will remember, I know. But wouldn't it be easier for everyone if he remembered sooner rather than later? He's been stuck in the hospital for weeks and he's suffering, Narcissa. Please help him. I fear you're the only one who can."
Narcissa folded her fingers together, resting her chin atop them as she thought through her course of action. Finally she spoke. "Can I see the child?"
Hermione shook her head. "I don't think that's such a good idea. It will only confuse her."
"Fine," Narcissa said, waving her hands as if to dismiss the thought altogether. "I'll help you- help him- this one time, but after that you must agree to leave us alone in peace. Our son made his choice and it wasn't us, despite all the things we did for him. I'll help him because I'm his mother and it's my job, but don't ever come ask me for my help again, is that understood?"
Hermione nodded and stood abruptly. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "I know I'm the last person you want to do a favor for, but thank you."
Narcissa stayed seated for a moment, staring at the younger women intently. "Are you taking care of him?" she asked, her tone much softer than it had been.
Hermione recognized that this part of the conversation was not between rivals competing for Draco's heart, but between a concerned mother and an unfamiliar daughter-in-law.
"I try to," Hermione said earnestly. "He doesn't always make it easy. But I do try. He's a good man and an even better father. You did well by him."
Narcissa seemed pleased with Hermione's response, but didn't press the conversation any further. She stood as well, eager to show Hermione to the door without any more small talk.
"For the record," Hermione added. "Draco does miss you."
The sound of an explosion came from the upstairs and Hermione didn't stick around long enough to find out what had caused it.
"GRANGER!"
Hermione burst through the door of her boss' office, cringing because she sensed she'd done something wrong. "Yes sir?" she questioned hesitantly. Edward Reubans was notorious for not giving enough chances to make the same mistake twice.
He was a fat man with the mustache to match, always wearing a blue pin-striped suit that clashed hideously with his black Ministry robes. Hermione closed the door behind her so her co-workers wouldn't hear him discipline her should it come to that. She didn't know what she'd done wrong, but she was sure there was something.
"Granger, I have a special assignment for you today."
She breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't in trouble after all. "Of course, sir. Whatever you'd like."
Reubans pushed a long roll of parchment across his desk toward her. "We have a new Auror recruit going through the ranks and it's his day to shadow the law enforcement office. We need one of our best to show him how our two teams work together, but how our team is the one in charge. Think you can handle it?" he asked gruffly.
"Of course," Hermione said, grinning a bit because he'd called her one of the best. All-in-all, having someone follow her around while she explained how their two offices cooperated sounded like a fairly easy day.
She unrolled the parchment and gazed over the instructions quickly. Her eyes stopped scanning when she reached the name of the Auror in training. "Draco Malfoy?" she read out loud. "Bugger it all."
She left the office and made her way back to her cubicle. An entire day with Malfoy was looming on the horizon and Hermione couldn't think of anything she would enjoy less. Perhaps shoving splinters under her fingernails. But even that was debatable. At least the splinters wouldn't talk back.
After about fifteen minutes of paperwork, Malfoy appeared in front of her desk. He was dressed in all black like he often had been at school, but his hair was loose instead of the slicked-back look she was used to him sporting. In the two years since she had last seen him, his shoulders had broadened and features hardened. His jaw was so well defined he looked like he had been carved from stone. He was holding a tiny sheet of parchment with his daily assignment on it. He held it out to her.
"Of course, of everyone in this entire apartment they stuck me with you, Granger," he sneered.
"I'm just as happy about it as you are, Malfoy," she retorted, sticking the sheet of parchment into a file folder in her desk. "Have a seat," she said, gesturing at the chair across from her desk.
"Just because I'm following you around today doesn't make you my boss," Malfoy said stubbornly, refusing to sit.
"Would you please have a seat, Mr. Malfoy?" she asked again, this time with a very overly sweet tone to her voice.
He rolled his eyes but plopped into the chair anyway.
"Thank you," she chirped in the same sweet tone. She was trying to make her voice as high-pitched and Umbridge-like as humanly possible. "Are we ready to begin?"
"Please stop talking like that," he begged, a hint of amusement hidden in his tone.
"Thought you'd never ask," she quipped, her voice now back to normal. She tossed him a large scroll of paperwork. "Read that. All of it. In detail. Please."
"What's all this?"
"It's the exact role and duties of everyone in my department. I figure if you read it, it'll be less time we'll have to spend chatting."
Talking to Malfoy was certainly not her idea of a good day, and she was quite sure it wouldn't be his either.
Draco started to scan the paperwork, his eyes glazing over after mere minutes. "Erm- Granger?"
"Hmm?" she asked, not looking up from her own paperwork. (Writing new laws while making sure there were no loopholes in the text was no easy feat.)
"Maybe the talking wouldn't be so bad..."
She looked up and their eyes met across the desk. His held no malice or sarcasm in them as they once had. They were just eyes. Normal, understanding, exceptionally grey, human eyes. Hermione relaxed her shoulders a bit and nodded in affirmation. "Alright. Talking it is then."
The next day, Hermione waited patiently outside the door to Draco's ward. Narcissa had gone inside more than an hour before and Hermione was starting to worry that the woman had had a hidden agenda to the visit all along. Finally, however, she emerged.
Hermione gave her a hopeful glance. "How did it go?" she asked nervously.
"Why don't you go in and see for yourself?" Narcissa snapped as she swept down the long hallway and out of sight. She was gone just as quickly as she'd appeared.
Hermione slowly pushed open the door to the ward and went inside. Draco made eye contact with her from his bed and sighed deeply. "Of course you were waiting outside the whole time," he groaned. "Can't even have a moment's peace..."
Hermione approached him and sat in her usual chair. "How was your visit with your mother?" she asked casually, picking at her nail beds as a way of fidgeting.
He wasted no time in answering all the questions she wanted to ask before she could even ask them.
"You and I are married. I am a fool who deserves better. You aren't worthy of me. But it's true. That… that thing- that little girl is our daughter. She is spawned from us. I am to trust that you aren't lying to me for your own benefit. I've lost all ties to my family since the war. My father is mentally unstable. My mother hates what we've become. You are apparently all I have by my own choosing; you, Potter, and Weasley. I'm a dark wizard catcher who has put many of my family's friends directly into prison and I can drive a muggle car." He sighed deeply once he was done rambling out everything he'd learned in the past hour.
"What is this shit? How did I let my life turn into such rubbish? If you had asked me my worst nightmare, this is probably what I would have chosen."
Despite his negative emotions and his disgusted expression, Hermione's face turned up in a large smile. "Do you truly believe me now?" she asked hopefully.
"Is that all you got out of what I just said?" Draco sighed but nodded his head slowly. "What choice do I have? The question now is whether my father is the only mental one in the family..."
Hermione sighed, a smile still on her face. "Draco, there was once a time when you were just as naive as you are right now, but those days came to pass, and these will too. You are very happy with your life, and once you start to see that, then you can come home."
She stood up to make her exit, pleased with even the smallest of breakthroughs. Before she could make it more than a couple steps, Draco spoke. "Granger- Mal- Hermione? Can I pretend I'm ready to come home now?"
"Why's that?"
"This hospital food is doing nothing for my digestive system."
"So wait? You're telling me that this bloke really ate an entire tea kettle full of exploding newts he'd enchanted and then called the law enforcement on himself?" Draco laughed.
"It's true. It was utterly disgusting by the time we got there. Had to call in a whole other department to come clean it up. And that's why there's now a law about eating enchanted objects. I would have thought that one would be self explanatory."
Hermione took a bite out of the food in her take-out carton. Working through dinner wasn't usually her favorite thing in the world, but at least tonight she had company.
She was sitting on her desk, legs kicking like a child. Draco was sitting in her desk chair, leaning back with his feet up on her file cabinet. The work day was over, but he had been so engrossed with her stories of the craziest law enforcement calls she had been on that they hadn't even noticed.
"Tell me another," Draco pressed, his mouth full of noodles.
"Alright. One time there was a witch over in Surrey who had taken a liking to-" suddenly Hermione's story was interrupted by the fires in the room all extinguishing at once. She glanced down at her watch and lit her wand to check the time. She gasped. "It's nearly 9:00! No wonder all the lights have gone out. Everyone will be long gone by now. The whole floor went home nearly three hours ago."
Draco's wand lit up too, casting an eerie glow over his face. "I suppose we should head to the lifts then."
"I suppose you're right," Hermione agreed. "It's probably for the best anyway. I was running out of stories."
"Well, Granger, thanks for teaching me everything there is to know about the mundane art of law making and enforcing. It's made me appreciate the department I chose."
"Speaking of which..." Hermione tossed her carton of food into the rubbish bin. "What made you become an Auror in the first place? Isn't that kind of the opposite of your style? I always thought Harry and Ron would be arresting you someday, not working with you. No offense."
"None taken," he said quickly. "I definitely earned myself that reputation. Erm- I guess it was the war more than anything. I'm not really sure when I made the choice to be honest. Me becoming an Auror has it's benefits. I know things about the other side, secrets, names. I'm no Patron Saint Potter, but I can do something good, right? Being a Malfoy shouldn't have to be a curse."
Hermione stared at him for a moment. The Draco Malfoy she had just spent the day with was a completely different person than the boy who had insistently called her 'mudblood' and other horrible names for years. "Who are you?"
He wasn't phased by her question. On the contrary, he seemed to have expected it. His answer was slightly rehearsed like he'd had to give it before. "Someone who realized that change is inevitable and I might as well change for the better. To be honest, it's sort of a long story."
"Do you want to go get ice cream and talk about it?" The question had escaped her before she even knew she was going to ask it and her eyes widened in shock. She began to mumble a hurried apology, assuming he would scoff about being caught in public with a muggle born. His answer surprised her.
Draco chuckled and the noise sounded almost foreign to her ears. "Actually yeah, I do."
A/N: Here's the re-meet-cute chapter! Yay! And a few of you wanted to know when Draco's mom would get involved, and here she is! Trust me, any holes in the story that have emerged thus far will be filled as flashbacks go on. (Hopefully.) There is a reason for everything. But if there's anything I've written (or haven't yet written) that you're really really curious about, definitely leave it in the comments so I know what people are most looking forward to. Thank you for all the lovely compliments! This is the last of the chapters I had mostly written already, but I'm starting on chapter 7 tomorrow, so look for another update next week! I love you all!
-Ashley