The first of the month scared Hermione more than she cared to say. She had been completely anxious the night before and it showed in the bags under her eyes when she woke up. She steadied her breathing as she stared at her messy bun in the bathroom mirror. "You got this Hermione." She told herself. "It's just two friends, meeting up. Nothing wrong with that." She stared at the bags under her eyes some more and finally got the energy to turn on the shower.
As she washed her hair she couldn't help but make a mental list of all she had to do before leaving. She had to comb her hair, find her wallet, find which purse she wanted to bring. Should she bring her camera bag? That might be too bulky. What would she say to Narcissa? Oh hello, your home looks quite lovely now that I'm not being tortured. She rinsed the shampoo off and wiped her eyes. With her hair wrapped in a towel and her body now clean, she was ready to seize the day. Sort of. Draco would be here any minute. She didn't feel comfortable apparating by herself to his Manor. Her heart jumped when the doorbell rang. "Hey." She said as she opened the door, "Just let me grab my purse." Hermione slung the bag over her shoulder and carefully hung the camera around her neck. "Ready?" she told him. "Sure." He said.
When they landed at the front steps of Malfoy Manor, Hermione couldn't seem to close her mouth. It was nothing like how she remembered it. The grounds were beautiful. Neatly kept with an enormous fountain right at the center and enormous gates that would make anyone insecure about stepping inside. "Welcome to my humble abode." He said, motioning for her to join him inside. Hermione kept her eyes wide open, not wanting to miss a thing. "This isn't even the half of it." He chuckled lightly. "It's incredible." She told him. As they entered the main part of the house, there was a giant staircase that led down both sides of room and an enormous chandelier that Hermione could not stop looking at. Draco could only look at her. She noticed this and dropped her gaze. "I'm sorry. You're used to this. I've just never seen anything like it." He nodded. "Do you mind if I snap a picture?" "By all means," he said, gesturing with his hands.
Hermione pulled out her camera and took the picture, careful to get certain angles just right. "Have you taken many pictures?" he asked. "Not too many," she said, scanning through the ones she had just taken. "But I went back to London, and managed to get some nice shots of the city." "If you have time, I'd like to see them." "Definitely." She smiled. "Maybe after you show me your gardens. Are you sure Narcissa won't mind?" The last part came out a bit faster than she had hoped. "My mother is away on business, so you won't be meeting her for a bit." Draco explained. Hermione nodded. She seemed more relaxed suddenly, as though a large weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.
"This way," he said, motioning for her to follow. As they walked through the mansion Hermione couldn't help but be in awe. There was so much of…everything. She couldn't imagine what it would be like growing up here. It was the next best thing to royalty, if not better. When they made it outside, Draco said, "Feel free to do whatever. But one condition. You show me how that thing works." Hermoine nodded and they made their way to the edge of one of the various fountains the Malfoys had sprinkled over their gardens.
"So this is a camera." Hermione said, giggling a bit. "It's pretty big." Draco said, noting the lens that was almost the size of her hand. "It makes the picture better. And it allows for better quality zoom," she said, showing him what she meant. Draco nodded, eyes slightly widened. "And then once you have everything the way you want it, you push this button, and it captures the image." She smiled. He looked at her. For some reason she felt herself blushing. "Really though, I can't explain much more than that, I'm still learning myself. There are a whole lot of different rules and things. Photography can get rather complicated." "Well then I don't want to keep you," he said, standing up, "Go on, have a blast. I'll just watch." He smiled. She returned the smile and nodded, standing up herself.
There was an amazing array of every kind of flower you could ever think of. The gardens were well kept, and Hermione was amazed, as she didn't think Narcissa as one who tended a garden. But she took pictures of everything. And sometimes she was so excited she was sure half of them came out blurry. Draco followed closely behind, observing her use of the camera. He even took a few of his own shots. "Show them to me after." He would say. Sometimes he went off onto his own path, going under a tree to try and catch some shade. At one particular moment, he looked so peaceful, so serene standing under the tree that Hermione had to take a picture. Thankfully, he didn't notice.
They must have been out in the sun for much longer than Hermione had anticipated because she suddenly got very dizzy very fast. She didn't feel herself fall, but she knew she was on the ground because she could feel the small rocks of the gravel pushing up against her face. She didn't remember much after that.
When she woke up, her head was pounding, and she was in a room that was incredibly grey. She tried to sit up but that only made the pounding worse. If nothing else, the bed was incredibly comfortable. At that moment the door opened.
"Oh good you're up," Draco said, putting a glass of water by the edge of the bed. "I was worried for a bit." He chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck. Hermione gladly took the water, the cold soothing her head a bit. "I'm sorry," she said, "I don't know what happened. I guess I got a bit ahead of myself." "You're too pale," he told her, "And you were out in the sun too long." She scoffed. "I'm darker than you are, and you're fine." "I was in the shade half the time." He argued. She knew he was right. "I'm sorry to have caused so much trouble." She said. He shook his head. "No trouble at all."
She swallowed. "This room is very grey." She told him. He nodded, looking around. "I like it," he said, "It's a nice color, especially when you're trying to sleep." Hermione's eyes widened as she realized they were in his room and her heart pounded as she realized she was on his bed. She struggled to get up. "Hey hey, it's fine. You've had quite a day. You can stay if you don't feel good." She sat up anyway, leaning against one of the pillows. She looked at him. "Please sit down too. I feel so bad with you standing." Draco walked over to the other side of the bed and sat down, so that they were both facing the opposite wall. Hermione bit her lip, trying to think of something to say. "Next time I won't pass out. Promise." She tried to laugh. Draco shook his head. "I'm surprised you're not bruised. You hit the ground pretty hard." Hermione laughed. "Did I really?" But her laughter was cut off when she remembered her camera. Draco assured her it was fine, it was on the opposite nightstand. Hermione nodded and exhaled deeply.
"So then," she said, hating the silence, "You enjoyed your trip?" Draco nodded. "I've been spending my birthday there for forever. Couldn't imagine it any other way." Hermione raised her eyebrows. "When was your birthday?" "The fifth." He replied calmly. "Why didn't you tell me? I would have gotten you something." Draco shook his head, "No need." "No," Hermione said, "Really. It's been decided. We're going to go do something. We'll build that fort. So pick a day. I can bake a cake and stuff too." She smiled at him. Draco got a strange look on his face that she couldn't read. "I don't know Hermione…" "Oh come on it'll be great. I make good cakes." She smiled at him.
Draco sighed. "Fine, I guess we'll build this damn fort you keep going off about." But he nudged her as he said it, so she knew it was in good fun. "Draco this is a lot of grey." She said, unable to help herself. He chuckled. "You don't like it." "It's not that I don't like it. It's just so much grey! Why not a bit of orange?" He shrugged. "It would kill the color scheme I have going." He told her. She laughed. "I can see you spent a long time figuring it out." "Took me days." He said. She smiled. "I'm sorry. I really do feel like I ruined all this. By fainting. Such a girly thing to do." "You didn't faint Granger the heat knocked you out. Don't be so hard on yourself." "I think I'm well enough to apparate home now." She told him. He nodded. "But, about your birthday. Are you free Saturday?" Again he nodded. She smiled the kind of smile that showed off her teeth. "Perfect. You can meet my parents and stuff too. I'll tell my mom to make her lemonade. Thanks again for letting me take pictures. Bye." With a wave she was gone. Draco couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that she had forgotten her camera.
In a moment she was back. "I forgot my-" "I know," he said, smirking and handing it over to her. "Thanks again," she was blushing, "Saturday!"