AN: I know, I know, it's been way too long since I updated. Those of you who were reading No Ordinary Love, will know that I spent a bit of time finishing that off, so now this is my only story in progress on . Can't speak for other ideas that haven't been posted yet but that's a story for another day, if you'll excuse the expression.
I think there might be one more chapter before the epilogue. So with NOL finished and this finshing I'm getting emotional, I don't know how you all feel about it...
Disclaimer: All recognized characters and situations belong to J. K. Rowling. I make no money from this and own nothing in the Harry Potter Universe.
They landed on the back porch of Hermione's parents house and were immediately greeted by her parents, who had been waiting on their new porch swing.
"Mum, Dad, it's so lovely to be home" Hermione cried as she ran into their waiting arms.
"It's wonderful to have you home love" Hermione's mother responded as she embraced her daughter.
"Draco" she nodded over Hermione's shoulder.
Mr. Granger moved to shake Draco's hand, pulling him aside when Draco accepted.
"Listen up young man, we are allowing you to stay against my better judgement but this is my house and you will play by my rules. No funny business. You will be sleeping in my study and I do not expect to find you in my daughters room after dark" Mr Granger warned.
"Dad" Hermione groaned.
"Understood Mr. Granger" Draco confirmed.
Hermione rolled her eyes and led the way into the house. Mrs. Granger patted Draco's shoulder as he passed her going into the house.
"Dinner is in an hour, why don't you go upstairs and settle in and come down when you're ready" Mrs. Granger suggested.
"Okay mum, we'll unpack" Hermione agreed, taking Draco's hand and almost dragged him up the stairs.
They went into Hermione's room and closed the door quickly, "your father despises me" Draco stated, "and he's right to"
"Draco stop. He does not despise you, he barely knows you. And don't even think about getting down on yourself again" Hermione stopped him in his tracks, something she had had a lot of practise at recently.
"Hermione, today's train journey just reinforced what I already know. Look at the kind of people I socialise with, Theo and Pansy are just the tip of the iceberg" Draco argued.
"Draco there will always be people who think the way Pansy & Theo do. It hasn't even been a year since the end of the war, you cannot expect them all to change the way you did" Hermione soothed him.
"My mother hasn't changed, despite what the Wizengamot believe. If she had, we would be spending at least a few days of this holiday at the Manor" Draco continued.
"Your mother will come around. She doesn't want to lose you; she risked her life and helped Harry just to get to you. She just needs time to adjust"
"It's been six months since the news of our relationship broke, how can you be so sure?" Draco asked.
"Because she is your mother"
Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco's waist. "Would you like to go and see her? Maybe if she sees us together…"
"I can't ask you to do that. Don't even consider it" Draco replied firmly.
"I wasn't suggesting anything elaborate, maybe lunch somewhere" Hermione pressed.
"I won't subject you to that situation" Draco insisted.
"Just think about it" Hermione asked.
Draco nodded, having absolutely no intention of actually meeting his mother. He was determined that if she did not accept his choice then she would have to face the consequences.
"Come on, let's go downstairs and relax, and we need to tell my parents to expect another guest on Sunday" Hermione released Draco from her embrace, settling for holding his hand and led him out of her room and back downstairs.
Hermione joined her mother in the kitchen, asking if she needed any help. Draco reluctantly sat in the living room with Mr. Granger.
"So young man. Do you play any sports?" Mr Granger asked, "Football, Cricket, something like that?"
"Err neither of those sir. I played Seeker for Slytherin house Quidditch team" Draco responded, hoping to keep the discussion on a friendly scale.
"Ah yes Quidditch. Hermione has mentioned it in the past. She went to the world cup or something with the Wealseys" Mr Granger commented.
"Yes I know. I was there with my… err never mind" Draco mumbled.
Hermione entered the room during the discussion, "he was there with his father"
Draco's posture visibly stiffened, "yes, that's correct"
"Ah" Mr. Granger responded, he knew very well that Lucius Malfoy was in Azkaban.
Hermione passed her father the beer she had carried in to the room and offered a bottle to Draco, who subtly shook his head.
She sat next to Draco and settled into his side. She saw that her father had a football game on the TV and would soon be unable to hold any kind of conversation that did not involve screaming at the players and the referee, even though they couldn't hear him.
"Hermione, can we not talk about my father in front of your parents. It isn't something I want them to think about while I'm staying in their house" Draco whispered.
"Okay sorry" Hermione whispered back.
As the pundit's on the TV discussed the teams to play that night and her father got lost in their speculations, Hermione entwined her fingers with Draco and began to form a plan.
She could do nothing about the situation with his father, he was in Azkaban no matter what, but she had to do something to fix the problem between Draco and his mother. She felt responsible for the separation between them, even though every time she mentioned it Draco insisted that it was not her problem.
She decided just to contact Narcissa herself, and take Draco out of the equation. Once he and his mother were in the same room she was sure they would talk civilly.
They had dinner, her father almost choking he was in such a rush to get back to the game, and Hermione escaped up to her room after her father called Draco to come and watch the game with him.
She could hear her father explaining the rules of football to Draco between shouting at the TV and cheering when the first goal went in. She knew Draco wouldn't be able to escape for a good forty-five minutes and was safe to write the letter.
She gave Draco's owl the parchment and watched him fly out of sight before rejoining her mother in the kitchen to help clean up.
At half time Hermione and her mother joined Draco and Mr. Granger in the living room, her father was in a jubilant mood as his team were winning and Draco seemed to be enjoying watching his first football game.
The couple spent the rest of the game in the living room with Hermione's parents and when the final whistle blew Hermione pulled Draco up from the couch and headed towards the stairs.
"Hermione, I don't want to find him in your room, do you understand me young lady?" Mr Granger called after them.
"Yes, dad. I'm just going to show Draco where he's sleeping" Hermione replied with a sigh.
They went upstairs and Hermione pulled the cord from the ceiling that brought the stairs into the Study down. They climbed the stairs and found that Hermione's parents had bought a foldout couch for the room, which was currently made up with a quilt and pillows ready for Draco.
"This wasn't here at Christmas" Draco remarked.
"Yes. Mum was saying that they bought some new furniture and repainted the bathroom, sorry love but the Green and Silver's gone. The porch swing's new too, apparently they had one in Australia" Hermione explained.
"So, this will be the first time in a while that we've slept apart. It'll be strange" Draco commented.
"Don't worry about that. I have a plan, thanks to Ginny and Harry's example" Hermione smirked and peaked Draco's interest immediately.
"We say goodnight now. You pull the stairs up after I've left and I say goodnight to my parents and go to bed. They won't be awake much longer, once you hear them go to bed apparate into my room, a few silencing spells will stop them coming into check on me, they'll think I'm fast asleep"
"Sweetheart, I do love your sneaky side" Draco whispered in his silky voice as he pulled her to mould against his body and began to suck on her neck.
"Goodnight" she said, loud enough for her parents to hear and tore herself away from him and ran down the stairs before she changed her mind and threw caution to the wind.
Hermione watched as Draco pulled the stairs up and shut the door, then hurriedly used the bathroom and called goodnight to her parents.
She placed silencing spells around her room, casting it twice at the wall adjoining her parents bedroom and waited for Draco to apparate into her room.
Twenty minutes, which felt like hours later, the crack of an apparation sounded and she turned to find Draco, just in his underpants behind her.
She just about managed to contain the drool that always tried to escape her mouth when she saw him with so little clothing and sat back on her bed, crooking her finger at him.
He quickly joined her on the bed and caught her lips in a consuming kiss. The danger of getting caught seemed to heighten the excitement for both of them and Draco had Hermione crying out very quickly and more than once that night.
…..
Easter Sunday
Hermione wrote to Blaise saying that she and Draco would meet Blaise in London and apparate back with him a few days earlier and the couple were now waiting in Diagon Alley, eating an ice cream at Fortescue's.
They were hidden away in the corner, hoping to avoid the press when Blaise found them. He greeted them, shaking Draco's hand and placing a kiss on Hermione's cheek, which made Draco smile, his friend's acceptance of his girlfriend warmed his heart.
"Shall we?" Hermione asked quickly as she spied a photographer she recognized walking past the ice cream parlour.
They boys nodded their agreement and they pulled up the hoods to their cloaks before exiting the shop and each taking Hermione's hand, she turned on the spot and apparated them into they alley near her house.
Draco laughed at the look on Blaise's face as he took in the hovel illusion, and Hermione removed the spell for Blaise so that he could see her actual house.
They entered and Hermione proceeded to introduce Blaise to her parents. Blaise produced a bunch of flowers from the inside of his cloak and handed them to Mrs. Weasley.
"Smooth!" Draco whispered. "Come now Draco, it's not proper to go to someone's house without a gift for the hostess, you know that" Blaise responded.
They sat down to eat almost immediately; Hermione's mother had prepared a magnificent roast.
"So Blaise, where are your parents today?" Mrs. Granger asked, kindly.
"My father past away many years ago and my mother is currently travelling. She and I do not have very much of a relationship, I hadn't had any expectation to see her over the holiday" Blaise answered truthfully.
"Oh, that's awful, just awful. Well I'm very glad you excepted Hermione's invitation" Mrs. Granger told him as she piled his plate high with potatoes.
Once they had filled themselves to the brim with Roast Chicken, Potatoes and Mrs. Grangers Apple pie and custard, they settled in front of the TV for yet another football game.
Draco and Mr. Granger sat and discussed the team, as Draco had taken the time to learn some of the players' names and positions during his discussions with Mr. Granger over the few days he had stayed, while Blaise looked on in confusion.
"What are they talking about?" he asked Hermione quickly.
"Football. My father had bordered on friendly towards Draco since he tried to take an interest in the game and my dad's team. I have no idea what it's all about but they seem to enjoy themselves" Hermione explained.
Blaise watched on in astonishment as Draco began to chant along with Hermione's father at the TV and laughed out loud when Draco jumped on top of Hermione's dad at the first goal.
Hermione joined her mother in the kitchen to help with the clean up.
"Blaise seems like a nice young man. It's such a shame about his parents" Hermione's mother commented as she handed Hermione plates to dry.
"Yes well I've never met Blaise's mother but from what I hear she isn't someone that you would want to socialise with. She has had seven husbands, and they've have all died suspiciously" Hermione explained in a whisper, she didn't want Blaise to hear her putting his mother down, even if he did act indifferently about her.
Shouting from the living room suggested that Blaise was beginning to watch the game with interest and Hermione laughed to herself as she put the kettle on to make tea for everyone.
A tapping on the kitchen window alerted her to the fact that there was an owl waiting with a letter.
She opened the window and allowed the regal brown bird to enter, taking the letter from its leg. The owl took flight again before she could offer it a treat.
She opened the letter and began to read the elegant script
Dear Miss Granger
It would be an understatement to say I was surprised to receive your letter.
I would be willing to meet as suggested.
I will be at The Leaky Cauldron at 1pm tomorrow, although may I suggest booking a private room?
This is, after all a private matter.
Regards
Narcissa Malfoy
Hermione smiled as she read the letter. Step-one of her plan was complete, next was getting Draco there without trouble, and keeping him there once he realised what was going on.
AN: Oooohhh, meeting with Narcissa, this could get interesting... Reviews will get us there faster...