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Chapter 7

He Ain't Worth Missing

The morning that Draco had left her the letter on her pillow had been a Tuesday. It had now been over a week since she had sent him her reply, and she hadn't heard anything from him at all. She and Scorpius both were beginning to be affected by his absence, as this was the longest he'd ever been gone at one time. Dmitry and Davius were still as smiling as they ever were but even their cheer was lost on Scorpius.

"Now, how would you say, 'Hello, Miss, how are you today?" she was asking him.

"Bonjour, mademoiselle, comment allez-vous, aujourd'hui?" he recited. She really couldn't be any prouder of him for how quickly he was picking up French.

"And how would you say it if you were speaking to a friend, like me?"

"Bonjour, mademoiselle, comment ça va aujourd'hui?"

"That's very good, Scorpius. You're learning so quickly!" she said, smiling at him. He sighed.

"I miss Father," he said, frowning. Hermione looked at him sadly.

"I miss him, too," she replied.

"It's Wednesday. He's been gone since last Tuesday. He hasn't even sent me a letter," he pouted.

"I know, Scorpius. He hasn't sent me one, either. Don't worry, he'll be home soon." At least, she certainly hoped he'd be home soon.

Scorpius sighed.

"Do we have to keep learning French today?"

Hermione checked her watch. It was 11:15.

"No, dear. It's late enough, we're both sad. I think we should stop for the day."

They were sitting on the floor, where they normally were in the schoolroom. Scorpius stared at her for a moment, then scooted up next to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his head into her shoulder. She put a comforting arm around him and then heard him sniffle and realized he was crying.

"Oh, Scorpius, don't cry…"

"Why hasn't he written! Why isn't he home!" Scorpius demanded into her shirt.

She hugged him tighter. "I don't know, dear, I really don't. But I know he'll be home soon and that he misses you very much."

Scorpius just sniffled and hiccupped in reply. It was all Hermione could do to not be angry at Draco for this. He had grown so close to his son, had given him such an amazing birthday, was becoming a fantastic father… and then he had suddenly gone away for longer than he ever had before and stopped all contact. She tried to assure herself that he surely must have a good reason, that he wasn't intentionally leaving them in the dark, and she was just starting to believe what she was telling herself when she heard a tapping at the window. Scorpius heard it, too, and looked up. His eyes were red and puffy from crying and it broke Hermione's heart to see it, but she turned her attention to the window.

There was an owl there.

Scorpius sniffled, then said, "Who's it from? I've never seen that owl."

"Neither have I," said Hermione. "Here, you sit tight and I'll see what it is." She shifted her weight as Scorpius let go of her, then she stood to her feet and opened the window. As soon as she took the letter from the owl, it flew away. Looking down at the envelope, she saw her name written there. Hermione.

"What is it?" demanded Scorpius. He was hugging his knees to his chest, still sitting on the floor and staring at Hermione.

"Unless I'm mistaking the handwriting, I do believe it's from your father…" Hermione said, opening it. Scorpius, upon hearing this, jumped to his feet and raced over to her.

"What's it say? What's it say?"

"Hang on, give me a moment," she said, and then began to read the letter out loud:

"Hermione,

I am dearly sorry it has taken me so long to write you. I have been making arrangements my whole time away. Please tell Scorpius that I miss him and cannot wait to see him when I get home, and that I have a wonderful surprise for him."

She paused and looked at Scorpius. He looked puzzled but excited. "A surprise? For me?" he asked.

"That's what he said," Hermione affirmed, smiling, and continued reading:

"I will be returning to the Manor around midday tomorrow—"

"Tomorrow!" Scorpius exclaimed. "He's coming home tomorrow!"

Hermione thought his smile couldn't get any wider. She kept on:

"—and I will be bringing an honored guest with me. I have enclosed the key to my Gringotts vault, number 617. Please take as much as you need out of it to buy Scorpius and yourself nice suits to wear tomorrow to welcome me and my guest. Note that I will be displeased if you spend anything less than 50 galleons on yours. You deserve the best, Hermione, and so you should wear the best you can find. Consider it a personal bonus from me."

"Fifty galleons on a suit?" Scorpius cried. Hermione smiled.

"Some of your clothes probably cost that much, you know," said Hermione, smiling. "Your father dresses himself and you very well. Now I'm still not done yet."

"Please tell Dmitry and Davius to prepare a dinner tomorrow that would impress even the Minister of Magic himself. I expect it to be so delicious that Scorpius won't even be able to resist the vegetables."

Scorpius scowled at this. Hermione laughed

"Lastly, I am sure my guest will want to hear the kinds of things Scorpius has been learning. Have him practice up on his French, especially, so he can show off just how bright he is tomorrow."

Hermione found this a little odd, and apparently, so did Scorpius.

"Father normally shoos me away when important people are over," Scorpius noted. "Do you think that he thinks I'm a grown up now?" Scorpius asked hopefully. Hermione laughed.

"Perhaps he does, dear! After all, it certainly is a mark of growing up when you start to learn as quickly and as well as you do," Hermione assured him. Scorpius beamed in reply. Hermione finished the last of the letter.

"I eagerly await my return to the manor tomorrow.

All my best to you and Scorpius,

Draco."

"Well Scorpius, guess what!" she said.

"What?"

"It looks like we have to go shopping!"

He groaned.

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun. Just think that it's all to impress your father when he comes home tomorrow!"

"But I hate shopping…"

"You loved it when we took you to Hogsmeade!"

"Yeah but that was different!" Scorpius protested.

"Because we were buying things you wanted?" Hermione pressed.

"Well… yeah…" he admitted.

"Well, Scorpius," Hermione started, "if you don't come with me today, then I guess I'll just have to let your grandmamma look after you for the day…"

His countenance change was immediate.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go shopping!" he exclaimed, dragging Hermione out of the room still holding the envelope and letter.

"Hold on dear, just a second," Hermione said, as she folded up the letter and put it back in the envelope where Draco's Gringotts key resided. "All right, now we can go!" she said, and led him by the hand out the front door.

Half an hour later they were strolling out of Gringotts into Diagon Alley, Hermione's bag heavy with the galleons she had taken from Draco's vault. The goblins had been suspicious of her at first but after a few truth tests and seeing the letter from Draco they decided that she was, indeed, actually his governess, and had led her to the vault with no issue.

"So, whose do you want to buy first, yours or mine?" she asked Scorpius.

"Hmmmm. Which will take longer?" he asked.

"Probably mine," she admitted.

"Then we'll do that one first," he decided.

"Sounds good to me," Hermione replied, and led him to a higher-class clothing store on the northern end of Diagon Alley. Just before they walked in the door, Hermione stopped. "Now, Scorpius, this is a place where very important people shop."

"So?" he asked.

"So, I'm going to need you to be on your very best behavior, all right? Can you promise me that?"

"I always behave well!" he protested.

She smiled. "Of course, how silly of me," she conceded, though she could recall several times he'd caused quite a bit of mischief. "Then you should have no problem being perfectly polite, right?"

"Yup!" he answered, beaming.

"Good. Now, let's see if we can brave the aristocracy…" she said to herself, and stepped in front of the door to find it opened for her automatically. She led Scorpius inside by the hand and they were immediately greeted by a chic-looking red-headed woman dressed in a snappy moss-colored skirt suit with black pumps that had heels that could probably pierce the skin of a dragon. Her hair was loosely curled and held back from her face with a clip that Hermione would bet all the galleons she had was embedded with diamonds. Well, Draco had said she deserved the best…

"Hello!" said the woman warmly. "My name is Clarice. What can I help you find, today?"

Of course, Hermione thought. A personal shopping assistant. She should have known. Knowing it would do no good to try to get rid of her, she replied with "We have an honored guest coming to our home tomorrow and we were hoping to find new suits for both of us for the occasion."

"Oh, how lovely!" she simpered. "And this is your son?" she asked, motioning to Scorpius. Hermione smiled.

"No, ma'am, I'm only his governess. My employer, his father, is away and sent us out today to buy what we needed."

"How precious," she replied, though she could tell she wasn't happy about having to assist a governess in her shop. Clarice knelt down – Hermione didn't know how she did it in those shoes – and spoke to Scorpius.

"And how old are you, handsome?" she asked him, beaming at him.

"I just turned six years old last week!" he said, exploding with pride over that accomplishment.

"Well isn't that wonderful! And what's your name?" she continued.

"Scorpius Draco Malfoy," he recited dutifully, standing up a little straighter. Clarice's expression changed immediately.

"Malfoy, you say?" she asked, standing up straight and looking back at Hermione.

"Miss, do you happen to be governess to Draco Malfoy?" she asked. Hermione wasn't quite sure where this was going, but answered anyway.

"Yes, ma'am. I've been Scorpius's governess for almost three months now."

"And you say Mr. Malfoy himself personally sent you here on this errand?" Clarice seemed nervous, Hermione noticed.

"Yes, ma'am, he did. We just got his owl this morning."

"Well goodness why didn't you say so!" she exclaimed. "We will simply have to get you the very best we have here, for both of you! Come along, come with me…"

Hermione was floored. She knew Draco was important, as the wizarding world went, but she hadn't realized he was quite that important…

"Did you have anything in particular you were looking for, miss?" Clarice called over her shoulder as she led her to the ladies' section.

"Honestly, no, ma'am. I trust you to lead me in the right direction," Hermione said. Clarice seemed thrilled that someone who worked for Draco Malfoy would put so much trust in her lowly opinion.

Hermione sighed. It was going to be a long day…

Hermione and Scorpius woke early the following day. Scorpius was simply excited beyond measure to see his father again, but Hermione was nervous about their "honored guest." She had no idea who it could be and was afraid that it would be someone so important that she would get nervous and somehow mess something up for Draco…

Instead of doing arithmetic, grammar, and potions theory that morning, they spent the whole time on French. Draco had said that he wanted Scorpius to impress their guest, and Hermione was going to make sure that happened.

"So when our guest comes in the door and addresses you, you'll say…"

"Bonjour, comment allez-vous, aujourd'hui?"

"And if they ask your name?"

"Je m'appelle Scorpius Draco Malfoy."

"And if they ask how you are doing?"

"Je vais bien – but Hermione, what if I'm not doing well? What if I'm doing awful?"

"Then you will still say je vais bien. It's not polite to admit to your guest that you are anything less than well," she chided. "Do you still remember the alphabet?"

He recited it.

"Wonderful! Now, let's see how high you can count… we've learned all the way up to fifty… first count to ten for me…"

"Un, deux, trios, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix."

"Eleven to twenty?"

"Onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze, seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf, vingt."

"Excellent. And what's thirty?"

"Trente."

"Forty?"

"Quarante."

"And fifty?"

"Cinquante."

"Fantastic, Scorpius! You're doing wonderfully." He beamed. "Now let's practice our colors…"

() () ()

At ten o'clock, Hermione decided it was time to stop and get ready. Draco had said he would be arriving "around midday" and that could mean anywhere from eleven to one. She left Scorpius in his room practicing reading Les Contes de Beedle le Barde while she got dressed.

She had eventually left the shop carrying two suits – the woman had insisted on giving her the second for free and Hermione simply didn't know how to refuse. The free one was a light sage green blazer with black pants and, Hermione decided, far too casual for the occasion. The one she had ended up buying was a beautiful, deep sapphire blue, silk skirt-suit. The bottom of the skirt and the edges of the long-sleeved blazer were trimmed with silver and crushed crystal. She had gotten a silvery short-sleeved blouse to wear underneath it and high-heeled, silver peep-toe shoes. She'd had them on for hours the night before to practice walking in them and make sure that she wouldn't fall over. Pantyhose, though she abhorred them, completed the ensemble from the neck down.

From there she stepped into the bathroom and thought for a few moments on how to style her hair. It hung in its usual waves at the moment, and she decided that the more governess-like she looked, the better, so she magicked it up into a loose French twist, but left a few pieces hanging down, which she curled around her wand into ringlets. She applied a little makeup – powder first, then a light blush and a dab of silver eyeshadow, with black eyeliner and mascara to complete it. As an afterthought, she added lipstick that was just slightly darker than her lips.

As she was staring into the mirror, she realized something was missing and realized that it was jewelry. She dug around in the bathroom drawers for a while until she found what she was looking for – a platinum and diamond pendant with matching earrings that her maternal grandmother had left her in her will. They were antiques, she knew, and one of the only valuable things her grandmother had had to her name. She rarely ever wore them, but she thought today was an appropriate occasion, and so carefully fastened the necklace on and put the earrings in. Taking a deep, calming breath, she stepped away from the vanity mirror and surveyed herself in the full-length mirror by the door.

She felt so egotistical for thinking it, but the first thought that popped into her head had been "Wow."

The suit had looked excellent in the store when she'd tried it on, but today, it looked exquisite. It accentuated curves she didn't even know she had, made her waist look even smaller than the size four that it was, and elongated her legs so much that Hermione was having trouble believing she was still only 167cm tall. The shoes helped with this, adding at least another 5cm to her height. Her hair and makeup were perfect, and the jewelry sparkled in the light of the bathroom. She almost didn't want to admit it to herself, but she looked damn good.

It really irritated her that her next thought was that Draco would surely be impressed, and not just in the professional way.

Shaking the thought away, she checked her watch. 10:30. Time to get Scorpius ready.

She arrived at his room and knocked lightly on the door before opening it. He was right where she left him, reading the French storybook quietly aloud to himself. He looked up when he heard her come in and he let out a little gasp.

"What is it, Scorpius?" she asked.

"You're beautiful!" he exclaimed. Hermione blushed. Was it odd to blush from the compliment of a six-year-old?

"Thank you Scorpius. It's time to make you look more handsome than your father has ever seen you!"

He groaned. "I hate wearing suits…"

"I know, but it's for your father, and you want to make him happy, don't you?" she prodded.

"Yes…"

"Well, then, let's get to work," she said, taking the suit from where it was hanging on his closet door.

It took a few minutes, but eventually Scorpius was fully dressed. His suit was navy like Hermione's but, of course, lacked the crushed crystal edges. He wore a white shirt and silver vest beneath it with a silver bow-tie.

"Do I have to wear the tie?" he whined, fussing with it.

"Yes, Scorpius, you must. It makes you look so incredibly handsome!"

He grumbled, but stopped pulling at it.

"Will you let me do something with your hair?" she asked.

"Fine…"

She smiled, then led him into the bathroom where she let him watch while she slicked it back like Draco had done himself when he was younger. It made Scorpius look all the more dashing.

"It looks funny," he said.

"It looks good," she assured him. The bathroom they were in faced the front of the manor and when she looked out she noticed Draco and his guest walking toward the front door. His guest, apparently, was a woman.

"Scorpius, they're here!" she said, her stomach suddenly doing somersaults. Scorpius gasped and hopped down from the vanity where he'd been sitting, dashing out of the room.

"Scorpius!" she called. "Don't run in the house! Wait for me!" She went after him at a slight jog – unable to do anything more in the blasted high-heeled shoes – and arrived at the front door only moments before Scorpius tried to open it.

"No, Scorpius," she said sternly, and he turned around and saw her.

"Why can't I open it?" he pleaded.

"Come stand here with me," she said, motioning to where she stood – similar to the very spot Draco had been when she'd first arrived at the Manor. "Your father will let himself in."

Scorpius pouted. "Okay…"

"Remember to smile, dear," she reminded him. "It's not polite to frown."

He pasted on a smile as they heard the door unlatching. Hermione put a hand on Scorpius's shoulder (to prevent him from running up to his father as soon as he walked in) just before the door opened, revealing Draco and the woman he had brought with him.

She stepped into the foyer behind him, looking around appreciatively but a bit aloof and came to stand next to him. She was, quite possibly, the most beautiful woman Hermione had ever seen in her life. She stood taller than Hermione even with her heels on, she had a gorgeous, toned figure that was clad in a gorgeous red cocktail dress that hugged her tightly and had tulle flowers on the sleeves, and her hair was nearly as blonde as Draco's and curled elaborately into a 40's-style. She was absolutely flawless.

Draco looked over at the woman.

"I'm so happy to have you here. This is my governess, Hermione," he began.

"Pleased to meet you," she said, bowing a little.

"…and my son, Scorpius."

"Enchantée," he said, and Hermione beamed inwardly with pride that he'd remembered that.

"Draco!" the woman cried. Her voice was delicate and smooth. "You did not tell me he spoke français…" Hermione detected a slight French accent and realized that the woman was French. No wonder Draco had wanted her to focus on Scorpius's French lessons…

"I wanted it to be a surprise," he smiled. He looked at Hermione. "Hermione, Scorpius, this is ma petite amie, Michelle."

Hermione's smile froze and her entire body tensed. She felt her stomach disappear.

That was a French term. And she knew exactly what it meant.

This wasn't an ordinary guest.

Petite amie, in French, translated to girlfriend.