Disclaimer: I am not and therefore never will be J.K. Rowling; and as such the story I shall post consists of my own plot, and borrowed Characters from J.K.
Chapter 3: Guest
As the apparition finished Hermione, Draco, and Scorpius stood outside wrought iron gates intricately designed; the Malfoy family crest half and half on either gate, joining to make the full one as the gates were closed. Each gate post held an eagle holding a shield with a letter 'M' engraved on it.
Draco removed his arm from around Hermione's shoulders, reaching into the inside pocket nearest him of his jacket Hermione still wore. He waved the wand once and an invisible barrier fell before the gates opened to reveal a long garden winding down to a three floor Wilshire County Manor House, expanding seven room widths on each wing.
Draco and Scorpius began walking up the path, stopping once he realised Hermione wasn't following behind. He turned towards her, where she stood staring straight ahead one single emotion written all over her face: Fear.
He stared, wondering what could have caused this reaction. Upon looking back to the house, there was nothing obvious, and then it clicked. "Shit," he swore, moving to Hermione's rooted figure. "Damn, I'm sorry Hermione! I didn't think." He gently put his hand on her shoulder; she snapped her head towards him, eyes locking.
"I'm fine" she said, quickly looking away.
"Are you sure?" She quickly nodded her head; he wasn't expecting such a quick response and so he took it as a lie.
Draco carefully placed his hand on her, lifting her gaze to his before repeating the question again. She nodded tears forming in her eyes. "Come on then," he said as he once again placed his arm across her shoulders.
They walked slowly up the path, all the while, Hermione kept her eyes trained on the path or the surrounding garden, refusing to look at the place that brought so many unhappy memories.
They got to the steps leading to the manor's front doors Scorpius slightly ahead of the pair. The doors suddenly opened revealing a small house elf. "Has Masters' trip been good?" the elf asked, looking to Scorpius and then his father.
"Yes it's been good thank-you Miffy." The elf looked towards their guest. "Miffy I'd like to introduce to you Hermione We- Granger, she'll be staying the night," Draco paused as Hermione stepped out of his reach. "If you could make a suite in the East Wing, the usual things, it'd be appreciated."
The small house elf nodded before turning back to Hermione, "It's a pleasure to meet you Miss." Both females smiled, the elf's being the larger, "You did a lot for my family," the house-elf added before snapping her fingers and Disapparating away.
Hermione remained looking at the spot that the house-elf had just vacated. "You may have a few more thanks before you leave," Draco quipped, taking his coat from Hermione.
"I'm surprised house-elves work for you," Hermione stated. "I didn't mean it like it sounded… um it came out wrong," she corrected on realising her previous tone was slightly on the harsh side.
Draco stared blankly at her before saying, "It's okay Granger." She winced slightly at his tone, detecting a bit of the former Malfoy, before he softened it, "I follow the law to the tee, each elf is part of S.P.E.W, has clothes, has holidays once booked, and extra money at Christmas." He listed as they walked into one of the lounges off the main hall, as Scorpius went towards the stairs
"That part wasn't in the law passed," Hermione noted, meaning the holidays and the bonus.
Draco shrugged as he walked over to a cabinet at the back wall, bringing up a bottle of an amber liquid he looked it over before pulling out the stopper and pouring some into a tumbler.
"Want one?" he asked Hermione, who shook her head. He went towards one of the brown leather chairs near the fire place. "I remembered what you said," he informed her as he dropped his weight into the chair.
She looked confused as she sat on the matching settee Draco signalled to, adjacent to the one he was on. "What you said once, we were discussing house-elves, that time you threw a potion text book at me when I said something about Dobby," he clarified. She looked down at her hands clasped on her lap muttering an apology under her breath.
He took a swig of his drink, "it's all in the past," he brushed the subject off. "Anyway you said you wished all magical beings could be treated the same; pure-bloods, half-bloods, Muggle-borns and house-elves. After the war and our final year, I was given my own wing of the manor, it was my eighteenth birthday present but a year later," he chuckled slightly, "so all the house-elves that served me were given contracts, drawn up by me personally, each house-elf had the opportunity to opt out of the contract like the older ones did or they could work with a decent salary, holidays, Christmas spends etc. and each was clothed they became free yet most stayed, given the choice many said they'd prefer to work for me than have nothing to do. And I soon convinced the rest of my family; my father needed more persuasion to do the same for the rest of the house-elves." Draco had a little twinkle in his eye as he finished looking at Hermione with a wide grin.
Oblivious, Hermione asked "Why did you do it?"
Draco's smile immediately faltered; he couldn't confess that, so he said, "Many things."
When he didn't elaborate she posed another question. "What made you change?"
He lifted his eyebrows to her; "You mean my perception or the way I acted?" he queried.
"Both?"
"Well after my assignment from Voldemort to kill Dumbledore I realised that I couldn't go through with it. I could act nastily to someone I hated, but to kill someone because someone else told you to wasn't, isn't me. When I realised this, I wondered if I could kill anyone defenceless or not, known or not, even those that I was taught were underneath me and I couldn't kill or be somehow involved. I'd witnessed lots of death but couldn't perform the act; watching Death Eaters mercilessly killing people made my stomach turn, even cursing made me feel queasy, torturing people until moments before they died or passed out and then continuing once they were gone wasn't my idea of fun. I was a COWARD; I couldn't even do the decent thing. Many a time when Voldemort set up camp here in the Manor, I sat in my room thinking about those in the dungeons. I walked down the stairs numerous times with the intent to free them, but their screams were so ear piercing that I cowered back to my room. The worst was y-" he cut himself off, standing to walking in front of the fire, staring into the burning amber flames.
When he didn't continue after a few minutes, Hermione stood and walked behind him placing a gentle hand on his forearm, "Who was the worse?" He moved at her touch, walking away from the fire and distancing himself from Hermione in the process.
After another few minutes of awkward silence Hermione, sighed lowering her arm to her side, "I guess I should turn in," she stated, even though it was only a little past eight o'clock. Draco merely continued looking out of one of the windows. "Goodnight Draco," she said softly as she turned the door knob and exited.
On the other side of the door Hermione let a little tear slide down her cheek, "Draco" she said quietly. She wanted to know who was the worse, what the exact reason was that he changed. But the tough Draco Malfoy wouldn't allow him to say. She was going to contemplate it further when a 'pop' sounded in front of her, signalling a House-elf's arrival.
"Miffy would like to say she has sorted a room for Miss, if Miss would please follow Miffy." Hermione nodded, wiping the would be escapee tears from the corner of her eyes as Miffy began walking up the stairs.
-DMHG-
The door clicked shut and Draco whispered a soft "Goodnight Hermione." He continued looking at the door before going to stand at the front of the fire gazing directly into the flames. He was so lost in thought he didn't hear the door click open and then shut.
"Are you just a jerk?" a voice shouted, "What did you do?"
"What are you talking about?" Draco turned towards his son.
"She's crying again, you obviously have something to do with it!"
"She just emotional."
"No, she mouthed Draco, so unless there's another one around here, it's you," he accused.
Draco poured and downed another fire-whiskey before getting another, then, loosening his tie, he sat on the single chair he resided on before, "It's complicated," Draco stated, swirling the amber liquid.
"Just like everything else!" Scorpius shouted.
The volume of the young man's voice caused Draco to grip the bridge of his nose to deter his on-coming, alcohol induced head-ache. Draco was slowly coming to the end of his deadly fuse and was about to blow up in Scorpius' face, when a woman's voice spoke from the door way nearest the bar. "Scorpius, could you leave me and your Father for a moment? I bet you're hungry; your Grandfather's in the dining room and one of the elves will gladly get you some food." Draco drank his glass full of Fire-Whiskey while Scorpius bowed to his Grandmother before silently leaving.
"Mother," Draco acknowledged Narcissa Malfoy, a tall elegant woman with blonde hair unlike the notorious dark hair of the Black Family.
He levitated the Fire-whiskey to himself pouring another drink as Narcissa said, "Your Father and I thought we heard a female's voice."
Draco took a mouthful of his whiskey, "You would be correct," he drawled.
"Draco don't be like that, I just want to talk. I didn't hear the door open again is she staying the night?" He nodded his head, causing a genuine smile to grace his mother's lips. "I'm so happy for you Dra-"
"It's not like that mother, she's here to stay for as long as she needs it."
"Who is she? Was she at school with you? Is she a Slytherin? I thought they were all married or you had no intention to pursue them?" she interrogated seemingly having ignored Draco.
"Yes I was at Hogwarts with her, yes I did say that about the Slytherin girls, and once again, it's not like that," he stated, managing to conceal his disappointment from his mother, who was about to ask another question but he stopped her. "And to answer your next question she was in Gryffindor," he finished, downing and pouring another drink.
You could almost see the cogs working in Narcissa Malfoy's mind, ticking off who the woman upstairs wasn't. Her eyes suddenly widened and she visibly paled.