Chapter 3: Letters from Hogwarts
One week later. . . .
Hermione leapt out of bed and ran down the stairs to the kitchen. She noticed Draco was already seated and enjoying his breakfast. He looked up at her, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.
"I made you a special breakfast for your birthday." Draco said as innocently as possible.
Hermione cautiously took the plate he so willingly offered. He practically forced it into her hands, still smiling.
Hermione cautiously took a bite of the eggs before the yolks erupted in her face. Literally an explosion of flavor.
Draco tried to contain his laughter, but ultimately failed. He was now rolling on the floor, howling with laughter.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "What happened to being nice to someone on their birthday?" Hermione mocked, repeating what he had said on his own birthday.
Draco smirked, "Why, that only applies to me, of course."
Hermione's eyes narrowed even more. "You arse!" Hermione exclaimed.
At that moment Narcissa walked into the room. "Watch your language young lady!" she scolded.
* – * – *
Hermione flicked her hand. Almost instantly, an enormous cloud of dirt was uprooted from the Malfoys' backyard. She held up her palms and hardened the dirt before twirling her fingers, making water come swirling from the clouds above and crashing to the bottom of her new, homemade pool. She already had her one-piece on and dived in head first, shooting like a rocket towards the ten-foot deep floor. She wrung out her hair when she surfaced. She heated the water, making it a hot tub – with misty towers of water vapor that must have been clotting her view of the house, because she didn't see Draco stride over to the edge of the hole. She raised her hands, and a mini tsunami threatened to drench Draco with hot water. He backed away.
"Not to spoil your fun, but Mum says you have to clean this up when your done," he gestured to the pool. Hermione threw the large wave of water at him, but he quickly ran for cover, and she only managed to soak his right side. But she quickly made up for it by shifting the water vapor towers directly at Draco's receding figure. He laughed when he slipped in the now moist ground, and Hermione laughed harder. Draco, since he was already wet, did a cannonball into the deeper part of the pool. Hermione tossed smaller waves towards him, and the ones that missed eroded the sides of the pool, making it wide enough to swim laps in. The hardened dirt at the bottom and sides of it began to soften and mix with the water, and soon they were swimming in thick mud. Draco tossed globs of it at her face, and he spit a few clumps out of his mouth when Hermione had shoved dirt at him up close. The ten-year-olds played for hours on end until Narcissa called for them to eat dinner, for it was almost nine o' clock.
Hermione rinsed the mud from their skin, and once they dried off, inside the kitchen awaited large bowls of mushroom risotto, plates of asparagus, stacks of water crackers with cheese; ropes of sausages, piles of tender steak; boiled ham, chicken, and potatoes; several racks of lamb chops, various pasta dishes – cream, butternut squash, tomato basil, Alfredo, rosemary; steak and kidney pie, pan-fried pork. And for dessert – treacle tart, fried cheesecake, eclairs, fudge; chocolate crisps, chocolate-covered pineapple slices; jelly, powdered, strawberry donuts; ice cream sundaes, of all kinds; cakes, brownies, humungous cookies.
Hermione piled butternut squash pasta and steak on her plate, while Draco made a beeline for the stacks of brownies and donuts. She rolled her eyes when he went for a second eclair, so he ignored her and made sure to eat extra fried cheesecake just to make her mad.
Draco headed upstairs for a nap, and woke from his two hour sugar coma to watch How I Met Your Mother on the telly, laughing every few seconds.
Hermione joined him on the couch, and they watched until one o' clock. Hermione fell asleep on the cushion adjacent to Draco, and he draped a comfortable blanket over her so as to keep her warm. She rolled onto her side and curled into a ball, her sharp, strong features softening nicely, which Draco noticed immediately. He smiled and fell asleep next to her, glad to have such a kind friend. He shifted slightly, not wanting to disturb her, so that her head was in his lap.
* – * – *
Draco woke before Hermione and, hours later, she joined him in the room she knew he was going to be in – their room.
He was excited she was there, for he was eager to tell her of the time at breakfast today when he put The Imperious Curse on his father to make his hand slip on the serving spoon, giving Draco an extra scoop (or three) of chocolate pudding.
But she didn't seem interested – in fact, she seemed quite distant, even sad. Draco frowned; he knew what was going on.
Every now and then, the full weight of her parents' death came crashing down on Hermione. But Draco knew what to do when these occasional depressing moments came around.
He scuttled over to the corner where they held their stash of charmed candy, which had grown immensely in both quantity and variety. She grinned when he handed her multiple licorice wands, along with a handful of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, which they sampled themselves ("Hey, what's this one?"; "Don't eat – "; "Ugggghhh!").
They sat in there working and talking, Hermione laughing when Draco choked on pepper flavored ones; Draco was just happy he was cheering her up.
Hermione's smile faded when Draco blanked out on things to make her laugh – he had only been distracting her, and apparently that wasn't enough. They had to return to reality – her parents' death was tragic, and their was just no getting over that. But he could make her feel better.
He walked around to the other side of the table, and before he could even open his arms she fell into him. He wrapped his arms around her, not caring that her tears soaked his shirt, and he held her, just held her, and let her cry until she could shed no more tears.
*– * – *
The next morning a large barn owl soared through the open window in the kitchen. It dropped two thick envelopes with the Hogwarts seal on them. Hermione and Draco looked up from their plates and noticed the letters. They jumped from their seats and immediately tore open the two envelopes. Narcissa entered the kitchen and saw the two children squealing in excitement. Narcissa then noticed the parchment in their hands and enveloped them in a hug. She promised to take them to Diagon Alley to get their school supplies the very next day.