Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my imagination. I was inspired by another romance novel i read and J.K. Rowlings wonderful world. Enjoy! and Please leave reviews.
Chapter 51
"Wrapped so Pretty"
She remembered the barrister all to well. He was a arrogant looking fellow with greedy eyes and a scornful sneer every time he looked her way. Something about the letter disturbed her, a lot. She walked out of the study and wondered what time it was. She had already wasted enough of her day sulking, and didn't want to add the barrister's letter to her list. She pressed her fingertips to her lips. Was it all a coincidence? Draco's odd behavior this morning and now the strange letter from his attorney concerning her.
I didn't want to make a personal appearance, for obvious reasons. . . . What obvious reason? The fact that she might ask why was the filthy snake in the grass in her home? Or, the fact that she might just over hear their private discussion about her, and this mystery witch.
With her name laced into all this, it justified her way of thinking suddenly. She did have a right to know, whatever it was that attorney, and of course Rita was up to. She jumped in her skin when the family clock gave off a chime. She then headed back to the study and ripped open the top drawer of Draco's desk. Inside there were: several slips of parchment, a stone , quills, a bottle of ink, and green wax, all barring the Malfoy insignia.
Shortly after ten and with a nervous heart, she finished the return letter under her husband's name and she sealed it with hot green seal and the stone. She pressed the "M" emblem down firmly. Hermione then summoned the same elf that first delivered the letter and gave explicit instruction to assure that the barrister understood. Draco was requesting the report immediately, and that the these instructions came solely from his orders alone.
Lying, she hated lying, but she had learned long ago that sometimes it was needed, even if it made her feel like the worst person alive for doing so. The house elf took the letter simply because he seen his Master Malfoy with their new Mistress, and indeed he knew that his master showed that he loved her dearly. There was no reason for the creature to doubt or disobey his mistress's order, or to suspect the attorney's hidden agenda.
It was too late to regret it now. She held it in her hand, the package, wrapped professionally in a large envelope. A thin, beige twine twisted it tightly together. She ripped it open.
The report was several pages long and contained numerous errors, indicating that indeed the editor was horrible as Mr. Sutcliffe had stated in his previous letter. Heart sickened, she read the report and of the barrister's proposal to maim her name with details of her so-called wasteful spending at the children's ward of St. Mungos. And how her selfish manipulation feed her own desire for more money, fame and stolen fortune at Draco's expense. That sadly, the Malfoy's will have to live the rest of their lives catering to the welfare of an unwanted half-blooded grandchild, due to the venal greed of a tricky witch, unworthy of their son's pureblood's name.
In the report, Mr. Professor Helbert, her former supervisor and current Head of Healers Department for St. Mungos Hospital, gleefully added his portion. He was delighted to give a personal interview, along with the three page bill from the International Floo Department for traveling expenses caused by none other than his former Healer, Miss Hermione Granger. He called her tactics unprofessional, careless. . . . and frivolous. . .
The way she squanders away funds from the needs of innocent children, without so much as a care in the world. Many whose relatives once fought on her very side. It's an out right disgrace the way she's turned out.
Mark my words, it will be by Draco's good graces alone if that child of theirs squeezes a shiny sickle, from a mother with such vulturous nature. She certainly has changed since her days with Harry Potter! And not for the better!
In tears she read every damning word, it was tearing her apart to absorb the fact that all the time Draco had been making love to her, he'd also been plotting revenge, secretly wanting to destroy everything she worked for, and hoped to be.
Over an hour passed before she could pull herself together, once she had, she went upstairs to pack. Too upset to send an owl, she called Petur and Emelie by way of fire. She asked them to come over right away. When he saw that she was packing, he immediately began to protest and refused to help. But Hermione was hysterical, and Emelie begged for him to please simply not upset her any further. Only after she swore to do it by herself did they begin to help her pack. But when Petur continued with his attempts to change her mind, she screamed and cursed him, she said that he was a liar, just like all the rest.
It was Emelie who asked for him to please leave, that he wasn't making the situation better.
Emelie and Hermione had left hours ago! Draco apparated directly behind Petur. Muscles he hadn't even realized he had were tensed. "Where is she?" he asked. He'd been working off steam, when Petur came bursting onto the field with the news that Hermione packed everything, and said she was divorcing him. Petur was in a rage because It had taken him several hours to track him down. Draco left in mid-flight with his practice attire still on, and drenching with sweat.
He still didn't understand why she had done something so drastic. He stormed through their home and found it in shambles. Little things he knew to be hers were no longer there.
In their bedroom hangers lay ripped from the closet, her side emptied entirely. Her dresser and mirror set cleared of her perfumes, creams, and her vitamins. The nursery, had been erased completely. Cleared of every pink blanket and covering she'd ordered, the tiny dollies and teddies were gone, stolen away, nothing remained not even the bassinet he'd chosen.
Granted he'd been sore and really rude with her this morning. He regretted it ever since, and he'd already made up his mind to get back in plenty of time to eat her silly chicken soup. He could easily imagine her hexing him for upsetting her and then walking out on her, he could even imagine her locking him out again like before. But when he opened the door to a deserted nursery he felt as if someone had just knocked the wind from his chest.
He spotted Petur from above, he was standing, waiting for him below. Draco backed away from the demolished nursery as if it were some horrible crime that wouldn't fade away. He turned and moved towards the balcony overlooking the foyer. Petur looked up at him.
Draco looked rumpled, sweaty and stained from hours upon his broom. He tried to swallow, but something was caught in his throat, something large and painful that made him feel as if he were choking. He leaned against the rail and felt his legs give. Petur ran up the stairs and was there by his side, but Draco pushed him away. He crossed over into their bedroom and looked out of the window.
"Hey, vut do you say ve get you into a shower, and get this place cleaned up -non! It vill help to clear your head a little, ok."
Draco shook his head violently. He didn't understand how could she do this to him. Didn't she love him, didn't she care how this would hurt him, too lose her again. He paced the floor, trying to sort out his emotions. He knew where she was, where she always went.
"Hey, Malfoy vut is t'is," asked Petur, he held out a handful of parchments, he'd been flipping through while Draco tore through the home. "Hermione, she vas not like any vay I've ever seen her before, she vas saying zat you have betrayed her, and zat you've been lying all along, zat she hates you and zat she hated me too, zat I've been lying for you."
That finally got his attention, and he looked over at the younger wizard.
"I don't understand, vat is this all about?" asked Petur "You should read this, it has her name on every page and they are saying `orrible things about her."
Draco tried to swallow the bubble of pain that was choking out his voice. "Where did you get that?"
" `ere, downstairs. Hermione, she vas crying, showin` it to Emelie ven ve arrived. She said you hired someone to ruin her!"
Draco pushed his fingers through his hair. "No, NO it was a misunderstanding. I can stop it, I can have him over right now and call the whole thing off." He moved towards the door, but Petur cut him off.
"What kind of misunderstanding!" Petur couldn't hide his anger. "You gave some bastard orders to destroy your vife."
"No god dammit, mind your own fucking business Krum —I never told him that! Just get the hell out of my way . . give me an hour and then I can explain."
"Explain it to me now. How could you do this?"