Chapter 3 – The Pub
A month had passed since Hermione's visit and her and Draco were scheduled to have a look around a place of interest the next day. Right now, however, Draco and Tom were busy working.
As Tom had taken over the land from his parents when they got too old to look after it and he now made his living by selling homemade bootleg liquor. Draco, in turn, made his living by growing unusual specimens from the plant kingdom, which Tom had never heard of. These plats were then beautifully brewed into the bootleg liquor, which gave it some unique qualities and were then sold to the local pubs. This day the blokes were in the process of adding some of these special plats to their latest batch of bootleg whiskey.
"So, when are you seeing you're high school friend again?" Tom asked and watched as Draco soaked some dried odd-looking cabbage-like plant.
"Tomorrow, actually. I'm taking her to the pub. You should come with us, gives you and me a chance to talk to Nigel." Draco answered without looking up.
"Right, good idea. What is it that she does exactly?" Tom asked as he wondered around the barrels of bootleg.
"Something to do with protecting fauna, I'm not really sure to be honest." Draco lied.
"What's her name? Other than Granger?" Tom asked.
"Why do you want to know, eh?" Draco countered.
"Dunno. Seem strange to call her Granger. I reckon she's got a given name, yeah?" Tom shrugged.
"Um, her name is Hermione. But I've never referred to her as Hermione. It's always been Granger." Draco said.
"Hermione." Tom tried the name. "Was there an admission requirement to have strange names at this mysterious private school in Scotland by any chance?"
Draco gave off a hollow laugh.
"Something like that, yeah." he smiled a small smile. More to himself than to Tom.
"I mean no offence, but Hermione is kind of a strange name, innit? Who comes up with a name like that, anyway?" Tom wondered out loud.
"Shakespeare?" Draco suggested.
"Oh, you're right. But still strange though. Draco's kind of a strange name too. Hermione and Draco. Well, at least you're odd together." Tom grinned.
"Lucky us." Draco mocked.
There was a moment of silence as Draco pulled up the soaked cabbage-like plants from the water and placed it on the disk.
"Tom, we're mates, right?" Draco asked after a while.
"'Course we're mates. I reckon you're probably one of the people I trust most in this world. Or else I'd never dared to get into this kind of business with you." Tom answered and opened the lid to some of the barrels.
"Good, cause I really need to ask you not to mention any of this to Granger. Nothing." Draco said as he walked with the plants in his arms towards the barrels.
"Right, no mentioning the bootleg." Tom nodded.
"Or the plants." Draco stressed as he started putting the plants in the barrels.
"Really?" Tom asked and turned to Draco.
"Really. Especially no mentioning of the plants." Draco said.
"So, just to get this straight. You'd rather Hermione knows about selling bootleg liquor than you growing odd plants in your backyard. Are these plants illegal?" Tom arched an eyebrow.
"Well, lets just say some might consider the plants to be a bit of a grey area. Just take me word for it and consider this need-to-know-basis." Draco said as he put the last plant in the last barrel.
"Right, I won't breath a word to her." Tom said and gave Draco a pat on the shoulder.
The next day was a Wednesday in January that brought a clear sky with a cold temperature to go with it. Hermione was picking up Draco and Tom up at Draco's house at eight o'clock in the evening. When she'd wondered why this late time for work he'd informed her that they were going to a pub, hence it's dwellers wouldn't be there at an earlier time. The reason for the visit to this pub was due to that when Draco and Tom dropped off their latest order to the pub-owner Draco had overheard one of the local drunks loudly declare he'd "seen a magic white horse in the forest the other week".
"So, Malfoy, how do you think I should approach this bloke, then?" Hermione asked as she was driving them to the pub.
"Don't worry about it. When we come in I'll point him out to you and then the rest will solve itself. He hasn't shut up about it since." Draco said. "Make a right here."
"Whom am I seeing?" she asked as she made a right.
"His name is Furgus Connell." Draco said.
"What business have you got with our town drunk?" Tom laughed from the backseat.
"If I told you Tom, then I would have to kill you." Hermione smirked.
"Alright then suspicious girl. No offence given." Tom smiled.
"And non taken." Hermione smiled back.
"Say, Hermione, I can't help but notice both Draco and you are a bit secretive. Are all your friends this secretive?" Tom inquired.
"Why are you asking, Tom?" Draco asked suspiciously. He really didn't enjoy the fact that Tom and Hermione seemed to be bonding.
"Wouldn't mind to meet some of Hermione's friends." Tom shrugged.
"Trust me, you don't want to get mixed up with the likes of her. Besides, her friends are all gits." Draco drawled, earning him a slap across the arm from Hermione. "Oi! Eyes on the road, Granger."
They arrived at the pub some 30 minutes later where Tom and Draco escorted Hermione inside. Inside they were met by polite greetings and nods.
"Good evening, Mr Malfoy, Mr Garret." a man wearing a ragged suite greeted politely.
Draco and Tom nodded at the man and continued their walk through the pub, Draco with his hand placed on the small of Hermione's back.
"Mr Garret and Mr Malfoy, good evening. What a pleasure seeing you gentlemen here." an old man with a hat said and lifted said hat to greet them.
Hermione narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Draco, which he ignored and walked up to the barman, a tall elderly man with a very impressive beard.
"Good evening, Mr Malfoy, Mr Garret. What will it be?" the barman asked.
"Good evening, Nigel. Tom and I will have some whiskey. And Miss Granger will have a glass of…" Draco said and turned to Hermione.
"Um, right, I'll just have the same, please." Hermione said.
"Right then, whiskey it is. Scottish or Irish?" Nigel asked.
"Irish." Draco answered and put some cash on the disk but Nigel shook his head and cracked a smile.
"You're money's no good here, Mr Malfoy. It's on the house." Nigel croaked.
Draco gave Nigel a nod but left the money on the disk all the same and turned around with the glass of whiskey in his hand. Hermione and Tom turned around as well.
"Who are you to these people?" she asked Draco in a hushed voice and took a sip.
"Now now, Granger. You're not here to sniff about my business." Draco smirked and turned to lean on his elbow to face her. "You're here to listen to what that man, the one in the green hunting vest, has to say."
Hermione looked across the room and spotted the man in the green hunting vest. She nodded.
"And while you do that, Draco and I are just going to have a quick chat with Nigel." Tom said and sipped his drink.
"You're not staying with me?" Hermione asked. The look on her face told Draco she'd rather not be left alone in this establishment.
"You're a strong, independent woman, I'm sure you can handle yourself." Draco winked at her before he signalled to the barman Nigel he'd like a private word in the next room. Nigel nodded and walked into the other room. Draco and Tom followed.
With Draco, Tom and Nigel gone Hermione looked around the room and found to her displeasure all eyes in the pub was fixed upon here. She gave the crowd an unsure smile, which wasn't returned.
"Oh bugger, what do I do?" she whispered quietly into her glass as she took another sip.
She didn't need to think long before the man in the green hunting vest stumbled his way towards the bar.
"Alright there, lass?" he greeted Hermione. "'d ya happen to see where that bloke Nigel went?" he slurred.
"He's having a word with the men I came here with in the other room." Hermione answered a little hesitant.
"Oh, guess I better serve as me own bartender then, isn't that right, lass?" the man in the green hunting vest sniggered and reached behind the bar and filled up his pint with beer.
"Right." Hermione said slowly and looked around the room in some hope of understanding what was happening.
When she turned to look at the others in the pub they quickly turned their heads and resumed (what Hermione assumed were) fake-conversations. Other than the man in the green hunting vest no one in the pub seemed to dare approach her. For whatever reason, Hermione didn't know.
"Sorry, I didn't catch your name, Mr…" she said and turned to the man in the green hunting vest.
"The name is Connell. Furgus Connell, milady." the man said and bowed so deeply his beret fell off.
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr Connell. I'm Hermione Granger." Hermione greeted in turn. "Would you like to take a seat?"
Connell gave her a wary look.
"You're not from here, are you lass?" he peered at her as he sat down on the bar stool next to her.
"No, that's right. I live in London. " Hermione said.
"But you know Mr Malfoy and Mr Garret, I take it?" Connell asked and gulped half his beer.
"Sure, I know Mr Malfoy. But not the way you do, I reckon." Hermione said and watched Connell wipe his mouth with his sleeve. "So why don't you enlighten me about who he is?"
"Well, let's just say he's been a blessing sent for this town." Connell said.
"How so?" Hermione inquired.
"Mr Malfoy's the kind of bloke who spreads hope where there's none left, you know?" Connell explained.
"I can't say that I do, but do go on." Hermione urged Connell.
"Right, in general if you've got a problem he'll help you sort it. For example; if you don't have any money, he'll find a way for you to get some. Or if you've got no dignity and feel like a bloody ant being pissed on, he still hear you out. Like when I saw the magical white horse, right? The whole town was laughing at me, but Mr Malfoy wasn't. I knew he didn't believe me, but he still listened and didn't laugh or roll his eyes once." Connell explained.
"You saw a magic horse? How do you know it was magic?" Hermione asked.
"Dunno, can't tell what it was exactly. First of all, it was all white, right. And it got this sort of silver hair. It moved magnificently and I could've swear it had a bloody horn!" Connell said. It seemed like he wasn't aware of Hermione's presence anymore and he was speaking right out into the air.
"Mr Connell, where did you see this horse?" Her voice was low and she put her hand onto Connell's on the disk.
Connell seemed to once again become aware of Hermione's presence and his eyes snapped to hers.
"You're far too kind, lass, keeping up this tommyrot. I'm sure it was nothing more than a delirium caused by too many of these buggers." Connell smiled and raised his pint before he drank from it again.
"Indulge me, Mr Connell. Where did you see this horse?" Hermione asked again.
"I was out hunting, right. On Mr Malfoy's land, with his permission, mind you! I got to this glade and there it was. I only saw it for a second, before it trotted off." Connell said.
Before Connell had a chance to say anything else Draco, Tom and Nigel appeared in the doorway and made their way back into the pub. Furgus Connell hastily jumped off the barstool and bowed deeply as Draco walked up behind Hermione and put his hand on the small of her back.
"I'm sorry, Mr Malfoy, Sir. I was just keeping your lady company until yous got back. No dodgy intentions, honest!" Mr Connell almost stuttered out.
"That's alright, Connell. You're a good man." Draco said calmly.
"Oi! Did you serve yourself, Furgus?" Nigel barked at Connell who gave the barman a sheepish smile.
"Oh, Connell, you joker, you." Tom clicked his tongue amused.
"Here, let me get that." Hermione said and put down some cash on the money still sitting on the disk that Draco put there for their whiskeys. "As a thank you, Mr Connell, for our talk." she added when Connell made an attempt to protest.
A hint of a smile formed in the corner of Draco's mouth, as he understood this meant Hermione clearly had gotten the information she'd hoped.