Menteur: Chapter 14: To Make Amends
October 9, 1943
Hermione couldn't help it but mimic his all-telling smile. "Would you like to join me for a drink, Monsieur Malfoy?
"Are you asking me out on a date?" the mocking tone of his voice was too obvious not to be playful.
Suddenly, she felt like she was 15 again. Butterflies in her stomach sprung up and forced her tongue to stumble over the words and her cheeks to redden beyond imperceptible.
"Umm…. I- I guess I am…" she nodded shyly.
Abraxas' face went back to serious and he sighed: "I apologize, Serena, but my answer is no..."
Hermione's mouth moved soundlessly couple times before her mind was able to formulate a proper reaction, facial and verbal. She didn't expect him to decline. After all, so far he seemed more than interested in spending time with her, but that has obviously changed.
"I-I" she stuttered quietly, eyes cast onto the worn wooden tiles of the floor. What were you thinking, you stupid witch?! scolded herself Hermione. First of all, you just asked soon-to-be-married man out on a date. Secondly, that man happens to be Abraxas Malfoy- grandfather of your bloody husband-, who, thirdly, still might rat your dumb-witted ass to Voldemort or Dumbledore at anytime! Every single thought came smashing into her heart like it was nothing more than a horse shoe on blacksmith's forge. A very un-lucky, counterproductive horse shoe.
Finally, she came back to her senses, pushed her thick dark curls decisively behind her ears, and faced the young Slytherin: " I'm sorry. I meant no offense. I thought...well, I don't really know what I thought, but it doesn't matter. Thank you for your help tonight and...eh... I'll see you later." She mumbled and quickly tried to flee the awfully awkward situation she caused. But before she got chance to gain some distance, Malfoy caught her arm just above the elbow and pulled her back towards him. A soft yelp of surprise escaped her lips as her body almost collided with his and the strong smell of expensive cologne and the soft velvety material of his black overcoat entwined her senses, prohibiting her from pulling away.
"Serena..." whispered Abraxas into her hair, still holding her tight. When she did not react, he used his free hand to lightly push her chin up. Their lips were so close, Hermione could swear he was about to kiss her and only for a second she let herself indulge in the familiar soft gray color of his irises, which subtly merged into shades of baby blue mere millimeters from the dark pupils.
They were beautiful, just like he. The only thing she wanted to do was to melt in time and forget everything about her life, this one and the one back in future. She wanted him to hold her, to play with her hair and tell her about little mundane things about magical world like Draco used to do...
Draco...
An image of her most-likely late husband popped unrequired in her head, making her eyes rapidly flutter open. When did she close them? Her brows furrowed in thought. Could she even ever go back to him, back to her own time and place? She looked back up to find Malfoy smiling at her. Not the rigid fake smirk he used to do his everyday dealings, but very soft amused smile.
"It's late and we are both tired, a date wouldn't be the best idea." He stated smoothly, losening his grip on her waist a bit, but then his smile transformed into a more serious expression: "I was just headed back to Hogwarts. Would you like to join me, Mademoisel Durand?" he said, mimicking her previous invitation.
Hermione took a deep breath and made her decision with a smile of her own:"It would be my pleasure, Monsieur Malfoy."
XXXAN-HOUR-LATERXXXSCHOOL-GROUNDSXXX
"Yeah, Crookshanks was definitely my best friend!" Serena laughed melodically.
"A cat was your best friend? That says a lot about your popularity. " teased Abraxas, his eyes never leaving the pretty witch walking next to him.
After Hermione had agreed to follow him back to school, they headed immediately to the Floo Network on the first floor in hopes to be able to transport straight to Slughorn's office as Abraxas usually did, but to they shared dismay, the Hogwarts Floo was already closed for the night. So they were forced to transport to the public fireplace in Hogsmead and from there walk all the way back to the castle. This unexpected turnout of events wasn't actually all that bad in Abraxas' opinion. Serena was charming, beautiful and her witty remarks could easily match the ones of his own in both hidden meanings and waggery. She told him all about her creepy obsession with grades and books, and he in return shared his stories of his early years in Hogwarts and in Malfoy Manor. That's how they got to topic of pets, after all.
"Oh" Serena feigned being offended, but then broke in laughter: "No, I wasn't very popular. Snap-... I mean one of my professors even called me 'annoying know-it-all' in my 3rd year!" Her cheeks flushed bright shade of red at the embarrassing memory.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, my pants flew off during my first Quiddich match." stated Malfoy. Hermione's eyes widened: "Really?"
"Yes, I was knocked off of my broom, but managed to hold on to it with my hand and as I was hanging there in the middle of the field, my pants slipped off."
"Did...hahaha...did you at least wear some underpants?" asked Serena between giggles.
"Oh, yes and the whole school got to see them." laughed Abraxas nervously. All the people watching that game, including professors and many influential folks from Ministry, got to see the old, worn down piece of red and yellow satin that were his lucky undergarments ever since the age of 6. The humiliation of a Slytherin player wearing "Gryffindor-colored boxers" quickly became the target of many jokes and taunts.
The witch pooched playfully: "Aww, poor Abraxas!" Her tone was heavy with friendly mockery, as she poked his side with her index finger. He went to grab her and return the favor, but she was ready and swiftly jumped from his reach, or at least as far as Hogwart's narrow hallways allowed her to.
"How dare you to poke me- the famous and awesome Abraxas Nicholas Malfoy?" he roared in fake anger and started to chase after her. She just laughed and ran towards the dungeons, trying to get as much as distance between her and young Slytherin as possible without making too much noise, which could attract Prefect night patrol and even though Abraxas surely had permission to be out at this hour, she was vulnerable to any detention or punishment were they to be caught outside of Slytherin dorms.
They almost reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room when he finally caught her. Securing his arms around her tiny waist, she did not even put up a fight as he'd expected, but did almost the exact opposite. She stopped on the spot, twirled around to face his and threw her arms around his neck, cuddling closer.
"Caught you..." he breathed out, bending his head to press his forehead against hers. She smiled brightly in return.
"And what would you like as a reward?" she whispered seductively, obviously enjoying their little play.
"Nothing" answered Abraxas matter-of-factly.
"Nothing?" inquired Hermione, obviously bit surprised.
Abraxas grinned devilishly and brought his head even closer to hers, so their noses were also touching.
"Everything I'd like is already in my arms..." he declared softly, finally realizing just how true that statment was.
A year ago he was completely content with marrying Letitica, starting his full/time employment at the Ministry and eventually taking over the Malfoy estate and producing heir, but now he wasn't so sure if that was the thing to do. Serena was like wild fire, melting and destroying his comfortable icy kingdom and making him question everything he was ever taught to be true. She has made him want to be different, not just a pawn in someone else's game. She has made him feel alive. Serena Durand, the mysterious foreigner with brilliant mind and questionable background, made him fall in love.
There was no denying it. Finally, he bend down to capture her lips in a kiss. She responded immediately, pulling him even closer and gently tangling her tiny hands in his pale tresses.
"Stay with me." he pleaded breathlessly.
"Tonight?" she asked between small kisses.
"Every night." answered Abraxas firmly and Hermione laughed brightly: "You would get tired of me so quickly!"
"Hmm" he murmured and kissed the top of her head: "We shall see..."
Hermione simply smiled and they both moved to enter the common room.
Inside wasn't as deserted as they'd expected. The black marble fireplace was still lit and five people were spread out on couches, forming a small circle. On the dark rug closes to the fire sat Cygnus dressed in blue PJs and sipping from a bottle of clear liquid- undoubtedly a very expensive vodka. Not far from him in a large chair sat Taddeus with Dorea. She was comfortably curled up in his lab, slowly dosing off. Opposite of them lay Marius, Abraxas' Quiddich teammate and a distant cousin of Black siblings. His hands were flying up and down in the air as he was reenacting some important part of the story currently being told.
"Oi, Malfoy, Serena" called out Septimus, who sat on the armrest of the last chair facing out, and therefore had the best view of the entrance and potential newcomers.
"Come join us. Marius was just telling us this really cool prank he and Crabbles played on some Hufflepuffs!"
Hermione gave Abraxas a really strained look, but he smiled at her reassuringly and let her to the empty chair. Septimus swiftly slit off to give them some space to sit and walked to the coffe table in the middle, grabbing some empty glasses and filling them with honey colored firewhisky, he then whispered some spell and the smooth glass covered itself in tiny ice crystals instantly cooling the drinks. Abraxas sprawled lazily into the chair, but Hermione found no other place to sit so she just stood there idly, deciding if she should just sit on the floor or not.
"Hey, Durand, you can sit here." offered Marius while sitting up straight and moving to the left side of the couch. Hermione smiled nervously and was about to walk over, when Abraxas' hand stopped her and pulled her down to sit on his lap just like the engaged couple opposite them. She could feel her face reddening, but the young Slytherin wrapped a protective arm around her mid section and drew her further onto his lab till her back was resting against his broad chest. Then he took her hand in his and tenderly kissed the tips of her fingers, which seemed to relax the angsty witch at least a little bit.
Taddeus laughed at their love-sick exchange, incidentally waking Dorea, who had no idea what had occurred while she took her nap, up. Her eyes blinked twice, before she reached into a small purse lying on the nearby nightstand and pulled out thin elegant glasses. Once the glasses were secured in their place on her nose, she sheepishly looked around, flying through her friends until her gaze steadied on Abraxas and Hermione.
"I haven't seen you here before..." she stated empathetically, but her sharp eyes bored into foreign girl with accusation and judgement.
Hermione shifted in Abraxs' lap and tried her best to sound casual, when she answered: "Yeah...'Ello, I'm Serena Dur-"
But Dorea interrupted: "I know who you are!" and Hermione's mouth instantly fell shut.
"That's right" added Septimus with laughter and handed each lover one glass of chilled alcohol :"You are something of a star around this school. I mean, it's not everyday that someone beats teacher's pet Riddle in every single class." He snorted at his own joke and Hermione could already tell that young Gryffindor didn't hold Voldemort too dear. Cygnus, who was always a big Knight of Walrpus loyalist, shot him a dirty glare, but did not comment.
"That's right. You're still jealous Slytherin has 4 excellent students while Gryffindor has only three!" laughed Marius.
"Four? Oh, please, do enlighten me, who are they!" Septimus rolled his eyes.
"There's Riddle and Serena- we have already established that. Who are the other two?" asked Dorea, suddenly also interested in the conversation.
"Don't forget that Malfoy here is still our valedictorian, that means his grades are better than both Serena's or Riddle's" declared Marius victoriously, to which Abraxas tried to object that the term valedictorian regarded only the graduating class, therefore Riddle's expediency wasn't applicable, but Septimus, still heated up by the argument, didn't let him.
"And the last one?" Septimus' thick ginger eyebrows quirked up.
Marius' smirk widened: "Well, me, of course!"
The whole group whined in unison over his stupid attempt at joke, completely forgetting about the issue of Abraxas and his new lover...
XXXTBCXXX
Oh, what a sappy romantic chapter, I know! But two important things happened for Hermione, she finally gave in to her "affair" with Abraxas, and she met some new (possibly) friends :) and Tom is definitely gonna appear in next chapter, because paradise cannot last too long, can it? :) Review appreciated!