A/n: Buggering hell. I must have posted this chapter in my blog.:O
Just plain stupid of me. Damn it.
Anyway, the story...
By: Aningme
Chapter 13
Dilemma: The Sequel
She started the morning with a headache. Her stomach grumbled in hunger, and she felt the need to puke. She was feeling the steam heating up her eyes and ears, feeling feverish. I can't be sick, she thought. She sat up from the bed and pulled up her hair in a messy ponytail, sighing in frustration. She walked up to the door and stepped out.
Closing the door behind her, she sighed and frowned. The house was extremely big. She stared at the convenience of the wide spaced hallways; each accentuated with elegant crème wall designs, and looked back at the elevator shaft just across her east. She decided it would be faster to go to the kitchen by elevator. But seeing the swift curve of the magnificent stairway urged her to go otherwise. She wouldn't be able to see the entire beauty of the house in the closed space of the shaft. Walking barefooted, she stepped down the foyer.
Reaching the first landing, she watched the full moon gazing down at her by the huge window dominating the high walls of the main hallway. It was still early, she thought and glanced at her wrist watch. 5:15 am.
"Good morning ma'am." A voice suddenly murmured behind her, startling her. Glancing back, she saw Harvey dressed in a black suit, a snug tie, and gleaming black shoes.
She smiled weakly. "Harvey. Good morning."
Harvey smiled back. His master made it clear to keep watch of her at this time of morning. She'd be awake by then. Keep her company, he'd say.
And as always, his master is right. "May I help you with anything?"
"Actually, I was trying to find the kitchen." Hermione smiled.
"Well then, may I assist you?" Harvey stretched his arm across them and led her.
Entering the double doors, Hermione gaped.
There was the huge entertainment system by the comfy sofas, complete with a huge screen, players of some sorts, and stacks of discs.
And the counters, wow.
It was arranged in a fashionable and convenient way. It was always convenience for Draco, more over, not depleting the fashion factor. She smiled, thinking of him.
"Wow, this is really something."
Holding down a chuckle at her reaction, he gestured for her to seat of a counter stool and walked over the huge refrigerator. "Would you like a meal in the dining room or would you refer to sit in here?"
Even the majordomo was convenient. "Here would be fine. What are we having?"
"What would you like, ma'am?"
"Something you like, maybe. I really don't know myself. I'm just hungry."
He smiled, grabbing some spices. "Would pasta do?"
"Pasta." She hummed and closed her eyes. "It's perfect."
Setting on the stove, Harvey glanced at her. "White pasta, ma'am?" It was, as he recalled, the same food they ate when she first came in this fortress.
"Yeah. Better. And it's Hermione." She said. "If it's okay with you. Or are you used with calling me ma'am? I really don't remember if you always call me ma'am or what…"
"It's alright." He replied and placed the plate in front of her. "Any refreshments?"
"Water would be fine. Where's your plate?"
Harvey glanced at her. "I have had my breakfast already." He set down a glass and poured in water. "Anything else?"
Hermione stared at the pasta. Merely blinked at it. "How did you manage to do this all fast?"
He grinned. Or perhaps she thought he did. "With all of these equipment, I believe you could do any recipe fast enough."
Glancing around them, she agreed. There were different kinds of machines that she couldn't name. She even hadn't seen them yet before.
Maybe just some of Draco's products. "That's really… efficient."
He nodded, seeing enthrallment in her eyes. "It was always the finest for him. He never accepts second rates."
She stared at him and watched him stare at the pitcher of water across him. He talked of Draco as if he was his own son. She smiled. "Where is he, by the way?"
"He left earlier than usual. He had a situation that needed his personal attention."
"I see. Why don't you sit down with me and let's talk. I want to know more about him." She suggested.
He studied her, and settled in a stool across her. "I may not be as sure to be the rightful source about him."
"I'm sure you'll be fine. You've been with him for quite some time."
"Yes, I believe I have." He smiled at that. "I believe Sir Ron, Seamus and Madame Ginny will be our guests later this afternoon. They'll surely have more information about him."
"Maybe. But, as I remember, all they do is killing each other." She winced. "Or did things really change that bad around here?"
Now, he did laugh. "I have heard of you and Sir Malfoy having quite interesting encounters back in your Hogwarts years. Everything has changed now."
"Hogwarts?" She straightened. "You know that school?"
"Yes, I believe so." He nodded. "I am a product of it."
She raised her brows. "Really now?"
"Yes, quite shocking indeed. But I am from the wizardry world."
"Wow. You must've met with Dracoduring the war." She guessed.
"No. Actually before that. I have worked for the Malfoy family for numbers of years before this." He muttered. "I have worked under Sir Lucius Malfoy ever since I was still in Hogwarts. I met him there. I am in Slytherin blood. And he had me as for his slave. I couldn't do anything against that, of course. Lucius Malfoy is indeed a powerful man. He'd do anything, good or bad, to get something he wanted."
Hermione swallowed pasta. "What did he do to you?"
He looked up at her and smiled. "Some threats here and there." Crucio, death sentences, torture, and more. He thought. "And I never did really escape him after my due in Hogwarts. Just when the war ended did I become free."
"He died during the war?"
"He sure did. Along with his Dark Lord."
"Voldemort." Hermione mumbled and sighed. "So Harry really did it. He really defeated him…"
"He did." Harvey agreed. "And saved many."
Typical Harry, she smiled. But there was that same ache in her heart. "And that's when you took him in."
"I saw him there, bleeding to death, traumatized and alone. I knew he was Lucius' son. But there was death in his eyes. The cold grasp of death."
"You took care of him for all these years." She said it as a statement more than a question.
"I did. We took care of each other."
"You didn't mind if he was the son of the man who made your life miserable." She muttered. "You loved him like your own."
"He may remind me of Lucius. Of the many things he did to me and took from me. But every time I saw Sir Draco in their manor long before when school is over, always bleeding and bruised in torture of his father, I always felt the will of taking him far, far away from that cursed place."
"And you did." Hermione whispered. "He's very lucky to have you."
He smiled. "And I am with him."
Walking over the foyer, he went directly to the house scanner. "Hermione."
Kitchen, east wing.
He smiled, thinking she'd been eating, and it was good for her. She'd gone from thin to thinner. And he intended of feeding her now and then. Or even shoving food down her throat if needed.
Stepping into the kitchen, he found her curled over the sofa, watching something on the screen, eating a bowl of strawberries. She looked at him and smiled.
"You're home." She uttered.
"I believe I am." He walked over to her and set his briefcase aside. "How are you feeling today?"
She stared at him, dressed in a suit. He had loosened his tie, and his shirt was one button open. He looked gorgeous. She felt her stomach doing cartwheels in her gut. "Alright. You?"
"Never been better." He muttered and glanced beside her. "May I join you?"
She patted the sofa and smiled. "Why not. Tell me about your morning."
He glanced at her, as he sat down to watch. She was watching an old film, women and men wearing old suits and gowns, delivering their scripts in ironically muted and over animated fashion. "Well, there was a gross breach in the supposed blueprint of the new hotel I was working on. My architect manager also created a bleak miscalculation on the net proceeds for the construction of—"
He trailed off, glancing at her. She was just staring at him.
"Of course you wouldn't want to know that." He smiled. "The point is, everything is doing well now, now that I have confronted them."
She laughed. "Sorry. I'm not good in business stuff and all."
"I know."
She sighed and just stared at her bowl of strawberries. "Draco."
"Hm?" He mumbled, gaining interest on the movie and absently reaching over her bowl for a strawberry.
She watched him nibble one and smiled. "Do I act like the person you married?"
He glanced at her again and raised a brow. "Why suddenly think that? Did something happen?"
"No. It's not that. I'm just thinking." She mumbled and sighed. "I have a lot of questions that haven't been answered yet. Sometimes I don't know whether I do want answers for those questions or not. But of all that, I just want to clear things up with you."
"With me." He repeated, propping his arm on the back of the sofa, resting his head on his hand.
"Well, you are my husband. We are married. I need to get to know you. I'll be spending the rest of my life with you." She looked at him, into his silver eyes. "I want to remember how I loved you."
He reached for her hand and caressed it. "I'm going somewhere tomorrow. I want you to come with me."
"What?"
"I need to show you something." He muttered.
She nodded. "Okay. I'll come with you."
He smiled. "May I ask a question too?"
"Shoo."
"Who am I according to your memory now?" He muttered.
She paused for a moment, as if thinking. "Draco Malfoy. Once a Slytherin. He was the boy who made my life miserable before. He always found a way to ruin my day and frustrate us all. He was also a very clever man. He made up different plans and cons for us to suffer every single day. And he never fails to puzzle me."
He laughed, and just watched her hazel eyes darken as she concentrated to bring herself back to the past. "He always calls me mud blood. And that never fails to annoy me. He also was the cause that I dread waking up in the morning. He was the most irritating, annoying, exasperating, infuriating, frustrating, grating, nauseating, galling, annoying, vexing, peeving, and any synonymous word pain in the arse I've ever met. But then, I was wrong."
He studied the way her hair tailed down her back in a messy ponytail. He stared at her features, her beautiful eyes, and her wide mouth. And seeing her, simply looking at her, he knew he never loved anyone more. Never would.
"I see a different you now. You're kind to me, gentle to me; you took care of me when I needed you. You always think of what's best for me. And you love me." She smiled. "You love me."
"I do." He said and took her hand, kissing it.
She felt her heart flutter in her chest. She felt her emotions slowly drowning her. "Why?"
He looked up at her and saw the unshed tears threatening to fall. "Why?"
"I mean, how could you love me with our past? I don't know what happened to us after the war. I don't know what brought us back in the same place at the same time. But still, I don't see the logic. You hated me so much."
"That was the past, Herm. I don't live in the past. If I did, I would be dying now. I have the worst of it, may I admit, but what's important is now. We can't disregard the past, but, we can live through it." He wanted to touch her face. Caress it. "And besides, there's no logic in love."
She laughed. "Well, you were always a puzzle to me, Draco Malfoy."
"Am I?" He laughed too. "You never fail to amuse me."
"Excuse me for the interruption." Harvey suddenly interjected, and stepped up. "Our guests have arrived."
"Alright. Thank you Harvey." Draco spoke, his eyes still on Hermione's face.
Hermione just smiled at him.
"We won't let them wait there outside now, won't we?" He stood up and held out a hand to her.
She stared at it for a moment and took it. "Draco?"
"Hm?"
She smiled at him and sighed. "Thank you."
He watched her as she walked away. He smiled and nodded. "Not a problem at all."
A/n: It's such a shame that I can't post personalized messages anymore...
But hey, look on the brighter side, summer is coming up fast.ü
And I could post as many messages as I want.ü