Disclaimer to JK Rowling

Chapter Two: Hope Beyond Measure

Oh, what a fancy ecstatic
Was the poor heart's, ere the wanderer went on-
Love to be saved for it, proffered to, spent on!

Robert Browning from Misconceptions

An instantaneous rush of adrenaline filled Hermione, and she knew that her fight or flight reflex was preparing itself. On one hand, she wanted to punch the living hell out of Malfoy – because yes, she bloody well despised his presence – and on the other she wanted to run to her room, lock the door and hide under the bed. There was a third option, which is the one that she opted for, was to freeze in her seat and not reply.

And here in France this afternoon is a clear display of that infamous Gryffindor courage. The demonstration is being conducted by none other than Hermione Granger, as she remains immobile in her seat, an acidic voice said sarcastically in the back of her head. Hermione regained her wits and grabbed for her book. She turned to the page with the folded corner and buried her head in the textbook.

Next to her, Lacie had hopped out of her lounger and walked towards her brother. Traitor. Hermione really wanted to read the book that she was forcibly holding in front of her face but she couldn't resist a peek above it. She watched as Lacie peck her brother enthusiastically on both cheeks, the word 'traitor' repeating itself in her mind again as she stubbornly went back to her book. Hermione knew that between family and acquaintances, it was commonplace for them to kiss each other when greeting each other. Hermione felt repulsed at the idea of being in breathing space of Malfoy, let alone let him kiss her on the cheek. She had expected Lacie to do the same, but it seemed as if her friend had different loyalties.

Then again, Malfoy wasn't that much of an acquaintance.

"How was the journey?"

"I will never get used to long distance Portkeying," Malfoy said rather coolly.

At that point, Hermione realised how much had changed in the year that had passed at Hogwarts, in fact, since they had both started Hogwarts. The first time that Hermione had met them, they had always looked so similar but now, even the expressions on their faces were different, Lacie had a perpetual smile on her face and even if she wasn't happy there was always the ghost of a smile. Malfoy, just as when Hermione had first met him, wore an uninterrupted mask, and Hermione could never deduce his intentions or emotions, not that she ever wanted to. Their differences didn't end there, though, Lacie's hair was blonder, probably from all of that sunbathing she did. Malfoy was taller, towering his sister by at least a head, and considering that Lacie was slightly taller than Hermione, Malfoy would only look down on her. Bloody fantastic, she though to herself, as if he doesn't already. It wasn't merely just a difference of appearance, but even their mannerisms opposed each other.

Malfoy was an archetypal Slytherin, and seemed more indifferent than Lacie. Even when he had kissed her on the cheek, it seemed overly formal and as if he was conducting a ritual, instead of greeting his sister. Lacie had ran up to him, and would have leaped into his arms if she wanted and grinned as she embraced her brother. When he patted her on the head, she seemed to lap up the attention and grinned at him. She was becoming the unreserved Gryffindor that her father would hate to bear witness to.

Their father was most likely the source for their divergence. Lacie had made it clear that she didn't care for their father or his opinions, but it was always clear the Malfoy favoured his father's opinions.

Malfoy then turned his attention to Hermione with his arms outstretched, "What? No warm welcome for me?"

Hermione, not wanting to exchange niceties, muttered, "You wish."

Malfoy's gaze moved from Hermione to the small table next to her, and before Hermione could hide herself behind her book she thought she saw him smirk.

"Did you read the article?"

Lacie snorted, "Of course I read that rag, I wish I had not though - it was utter drivel."

"You are just irked because they printed your middle name," Malfoy laughed.

"Partly, what kind of name is Andromeda? What was mother honestly thinking?"

Hermione flicked a page in her book, reading as she listened to Lacie talking to Malfoy. Malfoy snickered at Lacie's comment but suddenly sobered. He muttered something that Hermione couldn't quite hear before walking away. Lacie flopped into her sun lounger and turned to Hermione, who had watched Malfoy walk into the villa.

"You could at least try and be civil to him."

"You could at least be a better friend, you know that he tried to kill me."

"When in France…" Lacie said tailing off but she had found the sun and closed her eyes, ready for another hour of lazing in the sun again. Hermione rolled her eyes and returned to her book again, and it seemed that Lacie had no complaints this time.

x-x-x-x-x

Lacie and Hermione rarely dined with the matriarch of the Malfoy family, but today seemed to be an exception. If the Malfoy matriarch was not hosting guests or announcing the arrival of unwelcome guests, she was normally wallowing or hiding in her bedroom with her curtains closed. She barely left her room, and Sandrine attended to her most of the time. If there wasn't an ever-changing scent of burning incense, Hermione would have doubted that there was ever anyone in the room to attend to. Hermione supposed that the estrangement between her and her husband was taking a toll on her. Hermione noted that the woman's eyes were perpetually hollow, and she seemed to rely on several pieces of furniture to even stand up.

Narcissa Malfoy was falling apart, and her trip to France was to hide that from the rest of the Wizarding community. Merlin forbid a woman of her stature to be seen so weak, after all.

However, today she graced the head of the table with her son and daughter beside her. She stared adoringly at her elder child and fussed over him. The boy didn't want to be fussed over, but only made it known infrequently. Hermione noted that as uncomfortable as Malfoy looked, he wouldn't push his mother away, or the food she kept piling onto his dinner plate.

Hermione knew that the woman had invited her to stay, almost as if an apology for the actions of her husband, and she knew rationally that Narcissa would never hurt her. That didn't stop Hermione feeling uneasy in Narcissa's presence. There was always something so cool and calculating about the woman, and Hermione was only biding her time before Mr Malfoy's distaste for her would influence Narcissa too.

"How is your father?" Narcissa asked quietly, after she had finished fussing over Malfoy. Hermione noted in the corner of her eye that Lacie sat up stiffly in her seat at the mention of her father.

"He is… coping, he is without a job, wife, children or a house-elf so he feels like a pauper. He mostly spends his time in his office ready to gain political influence when the time is right," Malfoy answered as he cut into his food. He didn't look at his mother as he did so.

Lacie snorted, and was on the receiving end of a nasty glare from her mother.

"Your father may have made some mistakes, but he is still a very smart man," Narcissa scolded.

"A smart man would not have been bested by two twelve-years in his smart plan to rid Hogwarts of its Muggleborns, one of which is sitting in this very room."

"Your father made a mistake…"

"Is that what he fills his letters with? Do not think I do not see the plethora of owls that appear every day, Mother. Is that what you do all day? Pore over his love letters as he pathetically tries and wins your affections again? You are not a silly little teenager again, you are my mother -…"

"ENOUGH!" Narcissa's hand slammed on the table, and her errant magic blasted through the room, smashing the glass cabinets and the ornaments in them. Dogs in the distance howled, and Hermione could hear a slight ringing in her ears. She wasn't the only one, as Malfoy was grimacing and rubbing his ears. Narcissa lifted her hand slowly, and there was a gouge in the wood where her wedding ring slammed into the table.

Hermione watched as the woman took a shaky, but deep breath before standing up. Narcissa seemed to pull her wand out of thin air and waved it, and everything that had smashed repaired itself before them. She placed it gently on the table and rested on the table with her fingers splayed out.

"Your father made a mistake," Narcissa repeated herself, before Lacie had interrupted, "I do not forgive him for what he has done, but he is still the father of my children and for that I still care."

Hermione could tell that Lacie was still in shock from her mother's magical outburst and nodded into her food. Narcissa sat down. Hermione didn't have to be a mind reader to hear what Lacie was screaming in her head. Her parents will always favour Malfoy, and Lacie would always be the outcast. She also didn't have to be Lacie's best friend to know how Lacie felt, perpetually jealous that her brother was the golden child. It wasn't hard to see why, though, Malfoy had been doted on the moment he had arrived by his mother, and had always been spoilt. Lacie on the other hand, had been sent away and even when she sided with her mother, didn't seem to receive an iota of Narcissa's affection.

"Now that Draco is here, I hope that everyone will be cordial to each other. I refuse to have conflict in this house," Narcissa looked pointedly at Lacie and Hermione.

"If Draco promises not to poison my best friend, I will happily play the role of doting sister."

Lacie's outburst was so symptomatic of her envy of Malfoy being treated differently that Hermione didn't even flinch. She knew that if Narcissa hadn't known before, Lacie would use that fact sooner or later. Narcissa turned to Draco, her blue eyes flashing with anger as she did so.

"What does she mean, Draco?"

"Tell her, Draco, tell Mother how you poisoned Hermione with Doxy venom and told the entire school how sad you were that she had only been Petrified, because the world would have been better off without her," Lacie goaded.

Narcissa's wand rattled on the table along with the silverware, and it was clear that Narcissa's patience was wearing thin. Draco was glaring at Lacie. Hermione was also shaking with anger. She hadn't known the last part, whether or not Lacie was saving it for when she was hurting and wanted to have one up on Draco, Hermione didn't know. Hermione was reeling from anger.

How dare she convince me to stay in a villa with someone who said the world would be better off without me? How dare she not even tell me?

"The Doxy venom was only a joke -…"

"A joke?" Hermione found herself shrieking, "I nearly died!"

"But -…"

"I suppose having a great, big, murderous snake after me because of my blood wasn't the most dangerous thing, after all, I should have been more worried about you!"

Lacie was wincing as Hermione shouted across the table at Malfoy. Narcissa was simply glaring at her son, not saying a word, as it seemed that Hermione was saying enough for the both of them.

"Me? At least I tried to save your life, what exactly did Potter do?" Malfoy exclaimed across the table suddenly.

Hermione stood up in indignation. "Save my life? How? After how much you wanted me dead last year, why even bother?"

Malfoy stood up in response, "How many times do I have to be reminded of how much of a bloody idiot I am? I am sorry I played an awful practical joke on you, and I am sorry I said some unforgivable things. It is not the Malfoy way to apologise as we are so damned proud, but here it is, all on the table. What more do you want from me?"

Aside from Narcissa's small chastisement about Malfoy's language, she and Lacie remained silent as Malfoy spoke. Hermione was slightly taken aback by his small tirade but his words seemed to swirl in her mind and they only made her angrier and angrier.

She looked at Narcissa before saying, "I'm sorry, but may I be excused?"

Hermione didn't even wait for an answer before she stormed out of the dining room and towards her room. She knew that she was running away from her problems, again, but she had no other choice. She couldn't stay in the villa with him, he who so casually admitted to his part in poisoning her and handing out a half-hearted apology when he was caught out. She was even more infuriated by the suggestion that he had somehow saved her life. Hermione scoffed. If putting her in the Hospital Wing early so the basilisk wouldn't get to her had been his plan all along, he had failed miserably. She had nearly died twice last year, and instead of doing something proactive like Harry had, he merely wished her dead and stated the world was a better place without Hermione.

Who even says things so… wretched?

x-x-x-x-x

Lacie made to stand and run after her best friend, but a hand on her own stopped her. She looked up at her mother, who was not looking at her, but rather, at Draco.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy," her mother said, in a voice so calm but deadly as she glared at her son, "Is all of that true?"

Draco seemed to shrink under his mother's gaze and could not speak. He merely nodded meekly, and did not raise his voice at her. He had sat back down after his little outburst, but at least he had the decency to look mortified. Lacie only sat and watched as her mother berated her only son.

"I have never felt more ashamed to call you my son," Mother whispered, but her words spoke volumes. "How many times do I have to tell you that Miss Granger, is a friend of this family and you must treat her as such?"

Draco seemed to have found his voice, "But she cannot be, you know of her stock - …"

Mother's other hand curled into a fist, as if she was trying to control herself, and refrain from slapping her son across the face. Draco's eyes darted nervously towards it, but he need not have worried, Narcissa Malfoy did many things, but smacking her children was not one of them. Her hand relaxed as her breathing calmed.

"Your father thought those same things, but where is he now? You said so yourself, he is without a job, a wife or children, do you want to be just like your father when you grow up? If you do, I will send you straight home."

Draco looked taken aback for a moment, and glanced at Lacie. Lacie wore only a stony expression and stared back.

"But - …"

"I truly regret spoiling you as a child," Mother interrupted, "If I had been harder on you, just as I had been with Lacerta, I may not find myself feeling like a failure of a mother."

"I - …"

"You," Mother interrupted, "Will go and find Hermione and convince her to stay, if she does not wish to stay whilst you are here, you will go. I refuse to have her leave because you have wronged her."

"Yes, Mother," Draco said as he stood up.

"Maybe a better understanding of Muggles may do your compassion some good," Mother added, "I think adding Muggle Studies to your studies this year would help that."

"But, Mother -!"

Narcissa's eyes flashed dangerously as they flickered towards her son, "Or you could go home."

"My timetable is already so -…"

"You will do it, Draco," Mother said, before waving her son off. "Now, see to Hermione. Immediately."

Lacie watched as her brother closed his mouth and angrily walk out of the dining room to their end of the house. Lacie did not know if Draco knew which room Hermione was in, but he would soon find out. Lacie turned to her mother, who had taken her hand off Lacie's.

"Mother?"

It was Lacie's turn to be glared at.

"Why did you not tell me this sooner?" her mother hissed at her, "You should have written to me about this the moment that it occurred."

Lacie's mouth fell open.

How has this turned onto me?

"Well, I did not know that he was the one that poisoned her with Doxy venom until a month or so ago," Lacie admitted after composing herself, "The other thing was so… horrid, that I just could not repeat it. I am also not proud of what I did after he said it."

"What did you do?" Mother asked, and she almost braced herself for the answer.

"I may have… slapped him across the face."

Mother took a moment to process what Lacie had said and she took a deep breath.

"That is not proper decorum for a pureblood, especially one who has been trained to your standards, Lacerta, what were you thinking?"

Lacie could not take it for a moment. She thought about everything that had happened over the dinner, and the past year. She was not jealous of her brother, but at the same time, the way that her mother seemed to prefer him over her despite his shortcomings, angered her. Yes, her mother was a failure. How did she expect Draco to act? She had failed to execute the balance, because she urged her children to act within the remit of being a good pureblood.

What did that even mean?

"Here lies your hypocrisy! You chastise Draco for not being tolerant of Hermione in one breath, but are quick to note the proper behaviour of a pureblood in the next! No wonder we are confused as children, you cannot place us on a pedestal and expect to act properly as if a Muggle-born automatically acts inferior, because it only emphasises the difference! I bet you have my marriage planned, to a proper pureblood, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight."

Lacie scoffed as she said 'Sacred Twenty-Eight', she hated the notion. She hated that stupid list of families that were better than the rest, and she hated how her mother had once denigrated the list only to seem proud of her inclusion on it.

"No," her mother said quietly.

Lacie stilled for a moment. "What?"

"No, I do not wish for you to marry one into a family of the Sacred Twenty-Eight," Mother said, her voice barely a whisper. "The reason why I have always taught you to be tolerant of everyone, no matter what is in their blood was so you would never be tempted to marry into one of those families, no matter how much your father wished it so."

Lacie's eyes went round as she listened, hanging off every word that her mother was saying.

"I was from one of those families, and I had a mother who thought blood was everything: toujours pur, she would say to me, and I saw what that thinking did. Half of my family were Death Eaters, the other half were disowned, and I vowed that I would never pass that thinking onto my own children.

"But you are not just any pureblood, and you may not be the heir to this family, but you are a Malfoy. On the outside world, you represent this family and I will not have you act like a wildcat, is that clear?"

Lacie nodded, and her mother's lips drew into a rare smile. "I suppose I was too hard on you, and taught you to reject the way of thinking that our family is known for, and that was selfish of me, though it could have been much worse."

Lacie did not answer her, and watched as her mother started to eat again. Her mother looked deep in thought before excusing Lacie, before complaining about the electric lights interfering with her emotions to Sandrine. She thought about everything that her mother had said, and she realised that Hermione's concerns about her mother was not just paranoia. There was something about her own mother that seemed to be shrewd, but considering her mother had been a Slytherin, that was not a surprise.

What did she mean, it could have been much worse?

As Lacie rounded the corner towards Hermione's to check up on her, she only found her friend staring blankly in the corridor, her mouth slightly ajar. Lacie's brows furrowed instantly.

"What is the matter?"

x-x-x-x-x

Hermione would happily admit that she had not been nice to Malfoy. In fact, she took that admission back. Whenever Malfoy seemed to want company in the library and bothered her, she had always tolerated him and shown him a degree of civility. Whenever he wanted to get away from Parkinson or Crabbe or Goyle, and she was alone in the library, he had always come to her even though it was below his station to do so. How could he even say something so horrible about me? I have always been polite, and treated him as if he was the brother of my best friend.

Hermione moved about the room as if she were some sort of wild gazelle and started to pack up all of her clothes and books into her battered suitcase. As she threw stuff in the direction of her suitcase, her thoughts turned on a new target. How dare my best friend not even tell me he had said that?

"Stop."

The voice had been so quiet that Hermione didn't hear it the first time, and it took a pair of hands on her own and someone physically stopping her to still her.

"Stop."

Hermione stared at the hands on hers and looked up and saw pools of silver looking back at her. She withdrew her hands as if she had been burned and narrowed her eyes. She continued to stuff clothes into the suitcase sitting on her bed. Malfoy sighed and started taking things out.

"Please, stay."

Hermione rounded on him, her hands planted firmly on her hips. "Why?"

He ran a hand through his blond hair and sighed, "Because I want you to stay."

"Funny, because the world seemed better off without me a few months ago."

"You-you… I would not have said it if you had not stolen my sister from me!"

Hermione almost choked on her own breath, "Stole? Your sister isn't a possession, maybe if you gave Lacie the time of day instead of letting a silly House rivalry get between you, then she would want to spend more time with you."

"I accept that, now will you stop packing and stay for the rest of the summer?"

"How can I live with someone who so vocally wants me dead?" Hermione asked, throwing a t-shirt into the suitcase, which Malfoy promptly removed. Hermione went over and started putting the clothes that Malfoy was taking out back into the suitcase. He only kept taking them out. Hermione started feeling slightly frustrated.

"We technically live together at Hogwarts," Malfoy said after a while. "Do you mean to say you will move schools because you do not want to live with me?"

"I know that whilst I'm in Gryffindor Tower, you'll not be able to stab me to death."

"You exaggerate, Hermione."

Malfoy's usage of her given name staggered her for a moment. She had never heard him call her anything other than 'Granger' or 'Mudblood'. Her shock caused her to momentarily pause and Malfoy utilised this to drag the contents out of Hermione's suitcase onto her bed. Hermione's eyebrows furrowed as she frowned at him.

"I get the point, Malfoy."

"Draco."

"Excuse me?"

"You are in my family's residence. Everyone here is a Malfoy, so you should call me Draco, out of politeness."

"Have you been told to play nice by mummy, or she'll pack your bags back to Malfoy Mansion?" Hermione asked as she raised an eyebrow at him. It was getting harder and harder to discern Malfoy and his intentions. On one hand, he wanted her dead more than anyone and on the other he was insisting that she stay in the villa with him and his family.

"Manor," Malfoy corrected, "If that is what it takes for you to stay… Mother was furious, and told me to make amends or I was to leave. I want to stay here, so… and I know I have been an arrogant git or whatever you wish to call me so I will do anything to make you feel comfortable, as I would any other family friend."

Hermione didn't know what had happened so far in Malfoy's summer, but even she knew that it must have been unpleasant for Malfoy to come grovelling at her door. He must really want to stay.

"I see."

"So you will stay?" Malfoy questioned.

"I suppose."

"Thank you," Malfoy smiled awkwardly, and Hermione wasn't sure if it was a genuine smile or not, "Would you like some help putting your room back together?"

Hermione looked around the rather large room that she was staying in during the summer, and no amount of mess seemed to even affect the cleanliness of it. It was the opposite of Gryffindor Tower, where a simple tie being cast aside was enough for the girls to argue about the clutter.

"I think I can manage," Hermione replied.

"Then I will leave you to it," Malfoy said, taking slow but long strides to the door, he placed his hand on the door handle, ready to close it before turning to her. "Er… it is proper social etiquette to kiss a guest goodnight…"

"Mal-… Draco…" Hermione said, correcting herself at the last moment. "I think it would be best not to."

"Of course. Well, goodnight Hermione."

He turned to close the door after himself but Hermione stopped him for a moment. Another thing was bothering her, and it wasn't Malfoy casually calling her by her first name, or him pretending to be nice so that he wouldn't be carted back home to his father. She walked up to him.

"When you said you tried to save my life…"

Malfoy turned to face her and regarded her for a moment, before looking somewhere above her head and behind her before chuckling to himself. He didn't answer her, but instead pulled on her arm and held her against him. It wasn't like before, when he had coolly interacted with his sister in greeting. He was holding her, as if he didn't want to let her go, or he was glad she was alive. Hermione's observation had been right, he towered over her, and her face was buried in his shirt where she could hear his pounding heartbeat.

After a moment, Hermione took a frantic step back and she was standing so close she could feel his breath, and watched as his eyes slowly opened. He looked at her, grey eyes onto brown and then chuckled again before patting her on the head as if she was a dog. Hermione didn't know what was so funny. He also hadn't answered her question, and didn't seem to want to either as he walked away.

"When we go back to Hogwarts, we will be Granger and Malfoy again, won't we?"

He didn't turn around, but at least this time he answered her.

"We shall see."

x-x-x-x-x

Draco thought that the journey to Granger's room had been nerve-wracking and once he had done apologising and convincing her to stay, the knots in his stomach would ease. They did not. What had he been thinking? One moment he was walking away and the next he was holding her against him. He felt that this was such familiar territory. He had tormented himself enough the previous summer, for kissing her on the cheek, and now he had done it again. He may not have kissed her, but there was something more… intimate about the way he had held her.

He collapsed into his room and fell onto his enormous bed.

He did not know what had possessed him in the first place, she had merely asked him a question and he had intended to answer it with an aloof answer and walk away, but no, he just had to hug her, and then pat her on the head before running away like the pre-pubescent teenage boy that he was. He was surprised he was not writing an owl to Theo about how he had Mudblood cooties at the moment.

It was just, when he saw the mirror on the desk in her room, amongst the books and pieces of parchment scattered all over her desk, a woolly sort of sensation came over him and he was no longer in control of his actions. He wanted to show her affection and hold her close to him. He shuddered at the thought, he really needed to get a grip over himself. Did he not want her gone after all?

Draco did want Granger to leave, but after Mother had been so livid with the antics of his second year that he was forced to apologise or risk being sent home to Malfoy Manor. Draco pretended that he had enjoyed his time with his father but he had not. He had pitched the idea of going to France to his mother's to his father as a way to get mother back, and Father had jumped at the thought of it. Little did the man know that Draco had little intention of reuniting his parents. They were better separate. Draco did not want his mother to face the wrath and frenzy that was Lucius Malfoy.

At first, Draco thought that it would help if he went to Theo's every other day but his father soon put a stop to that. Draco was to study and better himself, and be a proper man. Draco was to learn the proper ways to be a pureblood, and to denigrate anyone inferior. Draco was to recite the names of political men and their weaknesses, the anti-Muggle legislation, and so on and so forth. Draco was a man of the house, and was to act like a proper Malfoy, no, his sister was not a proper Malfoy and had she sided with him she would have had it twice as bad.

His father had gone mad.

When Mother had asked Draco to apologise and make amends with Granger or else he would be sent back to the Manor, he would have kissed Granger's feet to stay. He accepted all of his mother's conditions, although Draco did not know what benefits of adding Muggle Studies to his curriculum would have, but he would anything not to go back to the Manor.

He knew that his father was trying to force Malfoy prejudice and pure blood ideology into him but it was having the opposite effect. Draco was starting to question why it all even mattered. He groaned.

Draco's gaze fell onto his wand on his bedside table. He could not forget what had happened a few months ago in that little broom closet, and every time he thought about his summer so far, that incident was never far from his mind. He reached for his wand. However, he pushed those thoughts away as his door slammed open. He placed his wand back on the bedside table.

"Why are you such a prat?"

"Lacie, it is late and I am tired."

"This cannot wait," Lacie said as she bounded over to Draco's bed and sat on it.

"Nothing ever can," Draco said as he sat up. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked at his sister. Draco wondered if his sister would have really have been mistreated by Father. She was looking more and more like their mother every day, except for her eyes. Lacie and Draco both had their father's grey eyes. Despite that, the striking resemblance between Lacie and his mother was sure to win favours from Father. Lacie tucked her blonde hair behind her ear and gave Draco a pointed look.

"What?"

"What? You are messing with my friend's feelings for the second year in a row, that is what," Lacie snapped. "I thought that you would have some semblance of decency."

"It was hardly a passionate kiss on the lips, Lace," Draco replied, the skin on the back of his neck raised a little in irritation. "She asked me a question I did not know how to answer and I panicked."

Lacie glared at him for a moment before her features softened. "Pansy will not be happy that her betrothed is so fickle."

"The Parkinsons broke off the engagement."

That had been another sore point with his father. There was an amassing mountain of problems with the Malfoy family: the sacking of Lucius Malfoy, the unsuccessful attempt to discredit Dumbledore and the separation of the Malfoy parents and children; and it had led to the political downfall of the family, and now they were in public disgrace. The once prestigious surname was now sullied and the Parkinsons would now take their chances elsewhere. They would always be the best of family friends, but did want better for their daughter. Lucius Malfoy had flown into another one of his frantic rages. Draco was to become a better candidate for a better family, a family of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. He would be the one to restore the Malfoy name. It all rested on Draco.

Not that Draco wanted to bear that responsibility.

Draco had never felt freer or more trapped in his life. At least in the coming year Pansy would not be simpering over him in his misery.

"Are you alright?" Lacie asked, concern clear in her expression.

"Why would I not be?" Draco asked, his eyebrows furrowing in his confusion.

"I do not know, Pansy and you have been engaged for so long, well, since we were children that it seems strange that it is all broken off," Lacie explained, looking at her hands and her blonde hair falling in front of her face. "I used to think that you would marry Pansy, and I would marry Theo and we would be a tight-knit family group and have children named after ridiculous constellations…"

"Like Andromeda?" Draco quipped with a grin, which was met by a scowl. "It seems so long ago since the four of us were so close."

Lacie chuckled quietly as she tucked her fallen hair behind her ear, "I cannot imagine the four of us picnicking in the Manor's gardens again, with Theo and you launching rocks at those poor peacocks, whilst Pansy and I compared dresses."

"Yes, it does seem as if you deplore each other now."

"I must admit, it is a relief not to imagine what it would like to be family with her. Who do you think the Parkinsons will go to next?"

"Not our problem," Draco said, "If you care so much about society affairs, I will buy you a subscription to Witch Weekly as a belated birthday present."

"I would rather kiss Theo."

"Would you, after all this time? I shall inform him."

Lacie swatted at him but Draco paid her no mind. The idea of Lacie potentially kissing Theo in the proverbial tree was probably as repugnant an idea to her as it was to him. Theo was family, for Merlin's sake. As much as Lacie had once fantasised that she would marry Theo, he knew that it was in the past and it was all pretend.

"It must have been hard on you, Father must have been livid."

Draco nodded and rubbed his eyes. He made a non-committal sort of noise, to indicate that their father had indeed been none-too-pleased.

"What did Hermione ask, by the way?"

"Hm?"

Draco was so tired now that his mind was starting to wane, and his eyes were growing heavy. Lacie prodded him on the arm to keep him semi-conscious.

"What did Hermione ask, the big question that made my big brother, Draco Lucius Malfoy, panic?"

Draco did not appreciate Lacie's sarcasm and the usage of his full name. He yawned and stretched out before lying on his bed.

"She asked me how I saved her life."

"Did you tell her?" Lacie straightened up, and prodded him incessantly. Draco just wanted to sleep as he began to feel his eyelids drooping. He moved his leg away from Lacie. Her prodding subsided.

"Er… I panicked, so no."

"I hate keeping secrets from my best friend, why will you not tell her?"

Draco thought about it for a moment but, as his eyes grew heavier and heavier he found it harder to concentrate. He focused on the one thing that really did deter him from telling her the truth, and that kept him awake for a moment. He knew that if he told her the truth of it, she would give it back without hesitation. There was something in that that perturbed Draco that he did not quite understand. He wanted her to have that mirror, whether to protect herself or to glance at her reflection, he did not care. He just wanted her to have it. He knew that it was one of the many Malfoy heirlooms that passed on through generations, but heirlooms and traditions currently meant nothing to him. He just wanted to protect her, most likely because he saw her as his sister too.

"I do not want to ruin the gift for her, if she knew it was really from me, she would give it back."

"Why do you even care?"

Draco took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He was really getting tired now.

"To be honest, I have no idea."

"Could you be warming up to Hermione? Maybe you will even marry her."

Draco reached behind him and grabbed one of the multitude of pillows that littered his bed. He threw it in Lacie's general direction, still with his eyes closed. He did not care if he hit her or not, but he hoped to convey the message.

"Have you forgotten? I am Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy family. I cannot simply marry any girl you push my way, especially a Muggleborn like Granger."

Draco did not need to look at Lacie, or be her twin to know what she was thinking. He fell back into the softness of his bed.

Does it even matter?

However, he did not think long on the matter as he drifted to sleep quickly and easily.

A/N: I forgot to say in the last chapter, if I make any mistakes with the French, please don't eat me alive.

If you haven't yet, I suggest reading Bright Star/Bound By Garlands of Her Own before this one, this story covers third year.

[Extended summer with Draco, Lacie and Hermione, though? Hell to the yes.]

If you haven't got the willpower or the time quick recap: Lacie is an OC also Draco's twin sister, named after the lizard constellation Lacerta and also named after Andromeda (ooh, what could that mean?) Hermione's best friend, Ron's sparring partner and unwilling participant in the crazy adventures of Harry J. Potter. Pretty much covers all the basics with that.

As always, happy reading.

CSxo.