A/N: Hey guys!! I am soooooo sorry it took me this long to put this chapter up. Life got in the way majorly, and I've had homework and outcomes (VCE students will know what these are) coming out of my ears!! It's been so crazy lately. Luckily, life has kind of been looking up and hopefully I can start typing up some more of the story ASAP. Thanks for bearing with me!! I know how horrible I am!!
Thanks!!
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter does not belong to me and I do not make money off of my stories. If I did, I would be able to go to Italy this year. But I can't. :(
Chapter 8 - Two Weeks at Malfoy Manor
Sunday, June 30th (Two weeks later)
The next day, Hermione and Draco started training again, refusing to fall behind, and wanting to master archery and swordplay as quickly as possible. Once or twice, Narcissa would join them, leaving Scorpius to be looked after by a couple of house-elves. Narcissa would teach Hermione more about swordplay, while Draco would practice his skills in archery; everyday they were both getting better at their given weapon.
They had already written to Harry and told him about their training with muggle weapons. He wrote back, saying that he thought it was a good idea for hand-to-hand combat, and wouldn't leave people completely defenceless if they lost their wand. He also told them that he would start that training with everyone as soon as he could.
On the Tuesday of the second week, Narcissa decided to take Hermione out shopping. They went all over London and the Upper Corner of Diagon Alley, where all the expensive clothes were, and where Narcissa usually shopped. All the clothes they bought were very tasteful, and Hermione loved them all. The only problem she had was that Narcissa wanted to pay. As much as she protested though, Narcissa just waved it off. After they were done, she told Hermione to consider them gifts. Hermione still didn't like someone paying that much money for her though.
When the two of them got home, they hung up their coats and walked into the Lounge Room, only to find Scorpius and Draco asleep in the middle of the floor; Draco with his arms around the small baby, and Scorpius laying face down on his chest, his little face turned to its side.
When Hermione saw this, she offered a little half smile, and leaned against the doorframe of the room. Narcissa looked between them, smiling, and took the bags from Hermione.
"I'll go put these up in Draco's room for you." She whispered. Hermione just nodded absent-mindedly, watching her small family. After a couple of minutes, she walked over to the Father and Son pair and laid down beside them, falling asleep soon after because of her long day shopping.
Hermione woke up later, just before dinner, to find Draco watching her. When she noticed his silver gaze, she smiled up at him sleepily, which he returned slightly. She looked down at his chest and saw that Scorp was still lying there, contently asleep.
Draco turned back to Scorp then, and started stroking his soft, barely visible, snow white hair. Hermione looked at him curiously.
"What's wrong, Draco?" She asked in a whisper, not wanting to wake up Scorpius. Draco replied with a shrug before facing her.
"You mean the world to me, you know." He muttered, taking in every inch of her face with his eyes. Hermione nodded.
"You mean the world to me too." She replied. Draco took a deep breath.
"I don't want you fighting in the battle." He murmured, averting his eyes. His voice was loud enough for Hermione to hear it. Hermione frowned and sat up.
"Draco, we've already talked about this." She warned. Draco got eye contact with her again.
"I don't want to lose you Hermione. I can't." He whispered. A sad expression passed over Hermione's face, and she cupped his cheek gently.
"If you're going down, I'm going down with you." She whispered back. Draco shook his head, shaking off her hand.
"We can't leave Scorp all by himself without parents Hermione. That isn't right." He argued.
"Well, I wouldn't be able to leave knowing that you could be dead at any point during the day!" She whispered furiously.
"I can protect myself, I promise." He replied.
"It doesn't matter. I have to stay. If not for you, then I have to stay for Harry. I promised him that I would fight beside him. I promised him that I would always be there when I became his best friend, and I'm not ditching him now." She argued back.
Draco took her hand and pressed it to his cheek again.
"I can't fight properly if I think that you could constantly be hurt, my love." He whispered.
"I know how to look after myself, Draco." Hermione replied.
"I know that, but it won't stop me from worrying. The Death Eaters are good, Hermione." He replied. Hermione sighed.
"There's no point arguing anymore. I'm going to fight, and no one can stop me." She answered. Draco sighed too.
"You're the most stubborn witch I've ever met." He complained. Hermione smiled at him, though it was a little strained from their recent argument.
"I know. It's what makes me, me." She replied. Draco smiled back at her.
"We should get something to eat. You must be starving." He commented.
"Yeah, I am." She replied, and took Scorpius off Draco's chest, before helping him up.
The couple made their way to the kitchen with Scorpius in Hermione's arms; their previous conversation already forgotten.
When they arrived, a house-elf appeared and took their orders for what they wanted to eat, before disappearing, and the food appeared.
They sat Scorpius down in his highchair, and ate silently. When they were done, they left the Kitchen and moved into the Library. Hermione fed Scorpius, and then rocked him back to sleep, and then both of them read and relaxed before dinner.
During dinner there wasn't very much talk, and that night, they all slept well.
The next morning, Draco and Hermione started up their training again. Their schedule included getting up, having breakfast, passing Scorpius off to Narcissa, and then training for at least three hours; one hour dedicated to each type of weapon in their arsenal, and then having lunch, before going back to train until about an hour before dinner, when they had a shower and got changed out of their sweaty, stinky clothes.
They kept up this schedule for the rest of the week, with Pansy and Blaise joining in on the Saturday. It was an interesting day to say the least.
Pansy and Blaise got there in the morning, at about seven, which was when Hermione and Draco were having breakfast, and joined them for a bite to eat.
"So, what are we starting with first?" Pansy asked as they walked up the stairs to the room Hermione and Draco had set aside to be their training room. It was completely devoid of anything that could possibly be broken, and only had four targets hanging on the wall with a semi-permanent sticking charm.
"First, we start with swordplay for an hour, then archery for the second hour, and then magical duelling for the last hour, to wind down some. It seems to take more energy to practice both of the muggle weapons than it does to do magic." Draco commented. Hermione rolled her eyes. She was transfiguring two pieces of wood that she had found in the backyard into swords for her two friends, and was starting on making them safe like hers and Draco's.
"Come on, let's go. We'll break into pairs first. I'll duel Pansy, and Draco can duel Blaise. How much swordplay have you done?" Hermione asked, suddenly very aware that she could be the worst at this particular field. She handed out their swords.
Blaise and Pansy shook their heads.
"Not much. Mum taught me the basics, and Narcissa would teach me a bit, but other than that, none." Blaise answered.
"Narcissa taught me all I know in a very short time space." Pansy answered. "And it isn't very much." Hermione nodded.
"Okay, good, that means we have a place to start off with. Let's get into our pairs. On the count of three, go." The four split up into their two, and held out their swords.
"First try, we go slowly. Okay? One, two, three, GO!" Hermione called, and the two pairs launched into action. Though it was slow and Hermione and Draco were obviously better at it because of their constant practice, but Pansy and Blaise held their own very well.
It was slow going, getting the other two used to using their swords, but they caught up quickly, and soon things were going much faster. Pansy and Blaise would pick things up, and use them when they could, learning the whole time. The practiced using the swords for an hour, as said, and then stretched their muscles out.
"Now it's time for archery." Draco informed, picking up his bow and quiver of arrows and duplicating it, Hermione following suit, and then each passed the duplicate over to one of the other two.
"What on earth is this?" Pansy asked, holding onto them gingerly. Blaise was giving the equipment the same odd, confused look. Hermione laughed.
"This is what is called a bow, and this is called a quiver. A quiver is a group of arrows, which is what are inside it." She informed, pulling out an arrow and showing them.
"You hold the bow like this, with the semi circle facing outward, and the string facing inward. Then, you take one of the arrows from the quiver, and fit it onto the string by putting the string in the slit at the back of the arrow." Hermione pointed all of this out to them, and followed her own instructions.
"Then, pull the arrow back, making sure to keep it straight. Keep pulling until the string can't be pulled any more, and then take a deep breath. As you let go of the breath, let go of the string." Hermione let go of the string and the arrow hit the middle circle in a split second. She turned to face Pansy and Blaise and saw shock on their faces.
"You've been doing this longer than a few weeks, haven't you?" Blaise asked. Hermione laughed.
"Try about a decade. Dad started me off on archery when I was only really small, and as I got older, I started doing competitions. I haven't done archery since I went to Hogwarts though, and I kinda missed it." She told them. Pansy and Blaise both had their arms crossed and one eyebrow raised.
"You have more than a decade's worth of experience in this. How are we supposed to pull something like that off?" Pansy asked. Hermione sighed.
"I'm not expecting you to be brilliant. You're forgetting that I had to teach all of this to Draco as well. And he's getting really good at it. And we practice more in a day than I used to when I was in competitions. I shot at targets only a couple of days a week, for half an hour. Now, we're doing an hour a day, every day. You'll be fine. The one thing you really have to focus on is aim though, and strength. Blaise, you should be really good at it, because you have the arm strength, and Pansy, I think you'd be really good at aiming, but you won't learn if you don't try." Hermione lectured. Draco stood in the background, just watching with pride at how she handled them. He was expecting the same reaction from the Order when they got there.
"Fine. So, how do you do this thing?" Pansy asked. Hermione beamed at her and motioned her over.
Hermione started working with Pansy and helping her with her aiming and shooting, and Draco brought Blaise over to one of the other targets, and started teaching him.
Despite what each thought, Blaise and Pansy learnt quickly, proving that they could do it, and by the end of the hour, Hermione was proud of them.
"That was brilliant. You were really getting good." Hermione praised. Blaise and Pansy smirked.
"Well, it wasn't that difficult." Pansy replied. Draco smirked in the background.
"Yeah, you say that now. You just wait until you have to try and hit a moving object." Draco stated. Hermione, Pansy and Blaise all shot him a look.
"What?" He asked. Hermione and Pansy just shook their heads, and Blaise smirked.
"The aim is to be encouraging, Draco. You're being the opposite." Hermione lectured. Draco rolled his eyes.
"I'm just making a point. They're doing well, but hitting a moving object will be harder." He explained. Hermione looked thoughtful.
"Only if you don't know where to shoot." She answered truthfully. Draco groaned.
"Don't tell me you can hit a moving object as well." He asked. Hermione smirked
"Okay, I won't." She answered. "Okay, let's start with magic now. This one's pretty straight forward."
Hermione and Draco explained how this part of their training would work, and got started.
This part of their training was just like one big duel between the four of them, with only one rule: No Unforgiveables.
The mock-battle went for an hour, just like it was supposed to, before Hermione called time when it was over.
"Time!" She yelled. The four of them then dropped to the floor and were panting while lying on their backs.
"That was harder than I expected." Blaise burst out between taking large, steadying breaths. Hermione, Draco and Pansy all nodded.
"It usually isn't that bad with only two people." Hermione replied.
"Agreed." Draco put in.
After training for so long, the group went down to have lunch, before going back upstairs and doing it all over again. By the time Pansy and Blaise went home, they were exhausted. Draco and Hermione weren't too bad, but that was only because they had done this sort of training for weeks.
The next day, Sunday, Hermione and Draco decided to take the day off from training, because it was their last day at Malfoy Manor. So, instead, the two went out to lunch, leaving Scorpius with Narcissa for the day.
"Alright Draco, where are we going?" Hermione asked, as Draco led her through the heart of London by the hand. Draco just turned around and smiled at her.
"I'm not going to tell you." He answered. Hermione sighed in frustration.
"Damn it, Draco, tell me!" She yelled. Draco laughed at her frustration.
"Don't worry; it isn't anywhere you won't like. It might be a bit expensive for your taste, but you'll just have to live with it." Draco answered. Hermione let out a little 'harrumph', but let Draco casually walk her down the main street of muggle London.
They walked the rest of the way to the restaurant in comfortable silence, just enjoying each other's presence.
It took them another couple of minutes to get to the restaurant Draco had in mind, and when they did, Draco opened the door for her, and waltzed right in behind her, looking very much at home. As soon as they had entered, they met with a maitre d'. The man was tall, was wearing a black dinner jacket, black pants, white shirt and a black bow tie. He was a young man, possibly in his early thirties, and very handsome.
"Good afternoon, Monsieur and Madame, what can I do for you this evening?" He asked, with a very precise voice. Draco straightened himself up to his full height, and was almost at equal height with the man.
"My name is Draco Malfoy; would we be able to use the Malfoy dining room? My apologies at not calling ahead of time, but I've been on a tight schedule lately." He lied. Hermione rolled her eyes discreetly at his arrogant tone of voice when talking to the man, who was very shocked to see the young Malfoy heir.
"Of course Mr. Malfoy; it is no problem at all. Right this way." He instructed, sweeping an arm out in front of him, and pointing the way. Draco took Hermione by the waist and directed her through to the private dining area.
When they arrived, the maitre d' seated them, before leaving the room again, in search of menus. As soon as he was gone, Hermione turned to Draco with a raised eyebrow.
"You even have your own dining area in a Muggle restaurant?" She asked. Draco chuckled softly.
"Of course we do. This is one of the finer restaurants in London. Of course we had to have our name in here somewhere." He answered, with a roll of his and hand. Hermione giggled.
"You don't much care for all this flamboyance, do you?" She asked. Draco looked at her seriously.
"Honestly, I wouldn't know what to do without it, but I don't like to flash my name everywhere, like Mother does, and like Lucius used to, just to get their way all the time." He explained. Hermione looked at him disapprovingly.
"Your mother isn't that bad." She admonished. Draco raised a manicured eyebrow.
"When you went shopping with her earlier in the week, did every store owner know her name?" He asked. Hermione looked confused.
"Yes, of course. Isn't that just because she shops there a lot?" She asked. Draco shook his head.
"Not just because of that. She doesn't usually get to go shopping any more. She's been too afraid that Lucius would come after her lately to go out too much. Now that he's behind bars, she's been much more lax, but still on alert. No, it's mostly because she announced who she was when she first walked in, and demanded the best. Don't get me wrong, she donates a lot of our money to charity, and such, and by no means is she conceited, but she does like the perks that come with being a Malfoy." He answered. Hermione looked thoughtful, and was about to say something, but, just then, their waiter walked in.
He came up to the table and passed both them some very swish looking menus that Hermione took from him gingerly, afraid that if she touched it then she'd dirty it.
"Good afternoon, my name is Daniel, and I'll be your waiter for this evening. The specials for today's luncheon are snapper, seasoned with herbs and spices, and with a side of Caesar salad dressed with Italian dressing, fillet mignon with a thin barbeque sauce and the Soup of the Day is French Onion. But, first of all, what would you like to drink?" He repeated off by heart.
Draco scoured the list of drinks.
"I think we'll start off with a pitcher of water with ice, but no lemon." He ordered. The waiter nodded and wrote it down on his notepad.
"Will that be all?" The waiter asked. Hermione looked up.
"For appetizers, may we please have a plate of bruschetta?" She asked. The waiter nodded.
"Very good choice. It is our chef's favourite appetizer. I will be right back with your drinks." He answered and swept out of the room, as if floating. Draco looked over at Hermione; a smile could be seen in his eyes.
"You handled that well." He commented. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I have been to restaurants before." She retorted.
"I do not doubt that in the slightest, my love." He replied, smiling slightly as he took her hands in his. "I love you." He muttered. Hermione blushed and looked down at their hands.
"I love you too." She replied, looking up into his eyes again. They were a molten silver colour right now, unlike the hard, dull grey steel that they were when he was angry, or the dark, stormy grey like when he was aroused, or the light, almost light blue grey of when he was content.
In turn, Draco noticed that Hermione's eyes looked a very light colour cinnamon today. This was different from the rich, flashing chocolate colour of when she was angry, or the dark, coffee colour of when she was aroused, or the light honey colour of when she was content.
The waiter came in moments later with a pitcher of water and two glasses, effectively destroying the moment between the couple. They removed their hands from the table when the waiter put down the pitcher in between them and placed the two glasses in front of each person.
"Is there anything else I can do for you?" He asked. Hermione and Draco shook their heads; Hermione smiling lightly, and Draco almost glaring. Hermione had to give him another admonishing look.
The waiter floated out of the room moments later, leaving them alone again.
The couple sat in comfortable silence for a few moments; Hermione taking in the splendour of the room and Draco flattening out the non-existent creases in the table cloth.
"What do you think will happen?" Draco asked quietly, shocking Hermione out of her wandering mind, and snapping her eyes over to him.
"What do you mean?" She questioned. Draco looked down at the table cloth again.
"In the war. What do you think will happen?" He repeated, clarifying himself. Hermione looked at him in pity and placed one of her hands over his, stopping his fidgeting.
"I think everything will be fine. People will die. We know that already. We just have to be able to get rid of everyone from the castle before it starts, and I think the younger children will live. I just hope that most kids won't be left orphans. I hope at least one of their parents' lives." She answered. Draco looked her in the eyes again.
"I hope you live; for Scorpius' sake." He added. Hermione's eyes filled with the sting of tears.
"I hope you live with me. Scorpius will need his father as well you know." She whispered, gripping his hand tighter. Draco flipped his hand over and squeezed it, reassuring her.
"I think we'll both live. But I'm not so sure about the outcome. He's strong. And his followers are powerful. No matter how hard we train, they're just going to hit us with an Avada and it'll be all over. They play dirtier than us." He pointed out.
"Now you're being negative," she admonished. "I think Harry will perform brilliantly. We'll get rid of him once and for all, you'll see. The world can't be this horrible forever." Hermione had a confident gleam in her eye, which sparkled when she talked about her best friend triumphing over the world's worst Dark Wizard.
"I hope you're right, my love. I hope you're right."Draco whispered. And then, yet again, the two were interrupted by the arrival of the bruschetta.
"Can I take your order now, Madame and Monsieur?" The waiter asked. Hermione and Draco nodded, actually happy this time to have been interrupted from there depressing conversation.
"Ah, can I please have the fillet mignon with a side of fries?" Draco asked, The Waiter nodded and wrote it down on the notepad.
"How about you Madame?" He asked. Hermione flicked over the menu, which she hadn't opened yet, and picked the first thing she saw that looked appetizing. The waiter nodded at her choice.
"I will be right back with your meal. Enjoy your appetizer." He wished, and then left the room again. Draco and Hermione each grabbed a piece of bruschetta, to keep their mouths and hands busy.
When they finished the first piece, they let that settle, and worked back into a conversation.
"Has Harry said anything about how we're getting to his house tomorrow?" Hermione asked quietly. Draco had taken her hand a moment ago and was stroking it softly with his thumb.
"No, he hasn't. I expect that we'll get a letter from him about it tomorrow morning, before we're supposed to leave. I'm not worried too much. He probably thinks we'll turn up at some point during the day." He answered nonchalantly. Hermione nodded.
"I just don't want him thinking that something's happened to us." She replied. Draco smiled at her lightly.
"I'm sure he thinks nothing of the sort. Are you going to ask him to invite Pansy and Blaise in?" He asked, quieter still. He leaned forward so he wouldn't have to speak very loudly. He was looking around the room, expecting to see a flashing red light that signified a muggle bug. But, of course, he didn't know what they were.
"I don't know. I think it's a good idea that they get involved. I mean, having them both being with Weasleys must not be good for their popularity at home, if their families even know about it. I think it would be safer for them to be with us. There's less chance of them being recruited." Hermione replied, just as quietly. Draco nodded.
"I agree. But I think Harry has a point as well. Their parents can't really be trusted, even if Blaise' are neutral." Draco pointed out. Hermione nodded.
"I know that, but I don't think they should be left so . . . so unprepared." She argued. There was a pained look upon her face. Draco squeezed her hand again.
"Everything will be okay you know. They'll be fine. Now they know the basics, and they can utilise those skills however they want to. Of course, if they want to practice, they'll have to do it in secret, but I think they'll be fine. Just remember, they aren't the only ones who are going to be unprepared. Just think of every other seventh year." He reminded her.
"Don't tell me that. Now I'm going to have to do something about it." Hermione complained. Draco laughed at her softly.
"You're so sweet and good, Hermione Granger." He whispered. Hermione blushed for the second time that night, lowering her eyes.
"Thank you." She murmured, not comfortable with taking compliments from anyone.
"You know, you could just get Ginny to start up a Duelling-type club, to help everyone get better at fighting. And I'm sure there are others in the school that are able to do archery or swordplay. You could even get Longbottom and Lovegood to help." Draco suggested. Hermione thought about it.
"That really does seem like a good idea." She answered, brightening up. Just as she finished talking, the door opened and the food arrived. Again, they removed their hands from the table and the waiter placed their dishes on the table, smiling at them both before leaving with yet another bow.
"I think they like bowing a lot." Hermione stated. Draco laughed quietly.
"It's their job, love." He answered, taking a drink of water before picking up his knife and fork and starting in on his meal. Hermione did the same, and they ate with only a little conversation, but the silence was a comfortable one.
After they had finished, they settled back into their chairs and sighed contentedly.
"I think I'm going to talk to Ginny about that duelling club you brought up before when we get there tomorrow." Hermione murmured. Draco nodded.
"I think that would be a good idea. We can help organise and such also. Make up timetables and curriculum." He answered. Hermione looked at him curiously.
"You sound as though you know you aren't going to be a part of it." She pointed out. Draco sighed and sat forward in his chair.
"Do you think you want to go back to Hogwarts?" He asked. Hermione looked shocked for a moment before seriously considering it.
"I don't know. There are pulls both ways. But I'm more inclined one way than the other." She replied hesitantly. Draco looked at her quizzically.
"Which way are you more inclined?" He asked cautiously.
"I don't think we'll have much more time to spend with Scorp before we have to send him away. I want to spend as much time with him as possible." She whispered. Draco took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
"I know what you mean. I don't think I'm going back to Hogwarts myself. It wouldn't be the same. I couldn't leave him." Draco muttered back. Hermione nodded, and Draco pressed a button under the table.
"Uh, what did you just do?" Hermione asked. Draco smiled.
"Calling the waiter. We should probably head home now." He answered. Hermione agreed and the waiter came back into the room. Draco asked him for the receipt and the waiter left again to go get it. They only had to wait for a couple of minutes before he came back and gave it to them. Draco pulled out a credit card and put it into the pocket, before handing it back to the waiter, who disappeared yet again. Hermione raised her eyebrow at him.
"You have a credit cared?" She asked. Draco shrugged.
"I had to pay for it somehow, didn't I?" He asked casually. Hermione sighed. "What? Did you think I was going to pull out that much cash?"
"To be honest, I hadn't actually thought about how we were going to pay until now." She answered. Draco rolled his eyes.
"Thinking of just walking out of here without paying, were you?" He asked good-naturedly. Hermione scoffed.
"No! I just hadn't thought about it, that's all." She countered. Draco laughed and stood up, taking her hand and helping her out of her seat.
"Come on, let's go out and get my card back before we go." He suggested. Hermione nodded and they walked out together, collecting the card along the way.
When they got home, after having dinner, Hermione and Draco packed their bags, and a small one for Scorpius that had all of his toys, diapers and clothes in it, before deciding to hit the hay for the night, and falling asleep.
A/N: Hi again, thank you to all the people that are just amazing:
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Thanks again everyone!! You people are the greatest! I only update for you!!
Sarah xo.