Out of Hand by relativelypositive
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I make no money from the use of J.K. Rowling's characters.
Chapter 20
Hermione knew her appearance was truly shocking when Narcissa Malfoy couldn't hide her pity. But she covered it up fast.
"Didn't you used to have hair?"
Mrs. Malfoy had been the only one facing the door, but now Hermione's mother and father turned and looked at her.
Her mother shrieked and ran to her. Her father was glaring daggers at Malfoy as though this was entirely his fault as he enveloped both Hermione and her mother in a reassuring hug.
Other than a few hesitant touches by Malfoy, no one had touched Hermione since yesterday morning…when Romilda punched her. It was bolstering. She felt better than she had since she left her parents' house Saturday morning.
"Oh, my baby girl," Catherine crooned, holding Hermione's poor head to her shoulder. She was gently stroking Hermione's bald head, which, while comforting, was making her want to giggle.
"Mum, I'm going to be fine," she couldn't help smiling as her mother acted like her mother. "I'm on the mend, I swear! I have a pretty scarf I can use until it grows back or I figure out how to undo the hex."
Mrs. Malfoy stood up and scoffed at her. "Do you not know any beauty charms?"
When she took out her wand and approached Hermione, Timothy stepped into her path.
"Don't you dare point that thing at my daughter!"
Hermione was wondering if she'd have to step in to keep her father from being turned into a cockroach, when to her surprise Malfoy stepped in.
"I don't believe we've met." He held out his hand to Timothy. "Draco Lucius Malfoy."
Hermione could tell her father didn't want to shake Malfoy's hand. He slowly lifted his hand to Draco's and gave him an overly manly handshake. When he let go Malfoy had to shake out his hand. Timothy smiled.
"Timothy Granger. This is my wife, Catherine." He waved towards Hermione and her mother.
Everyone sat down in front of Professor Dumbledore's desk.
Only now did Hermione realize the Headmaster was not in the room.
"Where's—"
"Where's father?" interrupted Malfoy.
Timothy smirked, "He's in time out." He snickered. "He was naughty."
Hermione's mother giggled. "It's really not funny," she said, clearly trying to keep a straight face.
Mrs. Malfoy was not amused.
"Do not make light of this situation."
"What happened?" Malfoy sounded scared, which put Hermione on alert. Would Malfoy be scared of his own father?
"As you could predict, your father is not taking this very well."
"None of us are taking it well!" interrupted Catherine. "They're only teenagers. No one's life should be so restricted at such an early age. I'm upset. Your husband is beyond upset! He was in a rage! I do not want that man around my daughter!"
Mrs. Malfoy stared at Catherine for a moment, then switched her focus to Malfoy, deciding against starting another pointless fight.
"He was alerted of the engagement by a clerk in the Department of Mysteries yesterday. He immediately went and tried to destroy our family scroll! He seems to think that it would break the engagement. He almost succeeded, as well, but it is magically protected, and your father ended up in St. Mungo's for a few hours. He woke up even angrier this morning. He'd like you to come home…we must avoid that at all costs. His next solution is…rash."
"It's barmy!" yelled Timothy. "He thinks he can kill you and bring you back to life to break the engagement!"
"Wait, would that work?" asked Hermione.
Everyone looked at her like she was nuts.
"What?"
"Granger, the only way to bring someone back from the dead would be to use extremely dark magic."
"Well, that's just not true. Muggles do it all the time."
Malfoy and his mother gave each other astonished looks, then looked back at her, rapt. Her parents, however, started protesting.
"Don't even think about it. You are not in the Muggle world right now and you are not leaving this castle! There are crazy little torturing girls out there, and I'm sorry to say there is nothing I can do to protect you from a wand," Timothy remarked.
"But if it would fix the situation I'm sure Professor Dumbledore would agree to accompany me. Or Professor McGonagall. Even Professor Snape could probably be persuaded, under the circumstances!"
Hermione was forming a plan. Her parents were dentists. They had friends that were medical doctors. She knew quite a few of them herself. How hard would it be to go to one of them, show them some magic, convince them to help her, then obliviate them? It could be done in…two hours…three hours tops?
If they left immediately, this engagement could be over by lunch!
She was brought out of this inner planning by Malfoy tugging her out of her chair.
"Come with me. I want to talk to you."
Her parents and Mrs. Malfoy were "discussing" how Muggles could possibly be able to do such a thing, and didn't pay much attention to the two teenagers as they went to stand in the hall.
Hermione was surprised to see Professor Snape standing guard.
"Professor? What are you doing here?"
"Making sure no one gets killed."
It took a few moments for Hermione to realize that the professor wasn't being facetious.
"Oh. Well, thank you."
"Why are you not with your parents?"
Malfoy stepped up to his head of house and murmured a few words. Professor Snape nodded and Malfoy led her down the hall a few paces and into a small alcove with a window and a bench seat.
"Is there really a way to do this?" Malfoy asked. Hermione couldn't figure out his tone of voice. He wasn't excited, like she thought he should be.
"Yes."
"Do you really want to do this?"
"Yes." She thought it was the perfect solution, really. In a controlled environment she was confident that nothing would go wrong.
"If my father's right and this would break the engagement, it would truly revolutionize our lives. I don't know whether to be grateful or terrified. Can you imagine how many people would be killed and brought back? It may become common practice!"
"I'm not saying we should broadcast this solution to the world. But in this situation, our situation, I think it is viable."
Malfoy looked at her. He was lost in thought for a few minutes while he studied her. She could tell there was an inner debate going on.
"I don't think we should."
"We? Don't worry. I'm sure only I'd have to go through with the procedure."
"No. I'm saying I think we should go through with the marriage."
Hermione was shocked. She couldn't think of anything to say for a moment. When she did, it was a simple, "Why?"
"Because you're brave, and intelligent, and strong. I don't…."
"You're not about to try to convince me that you love me, are you? We both know that's not true."
"No. But I think you'll fall in love with me. It may take a while, but you will. You won't be able to help yourself. And I want that. I want to have a wife that loves me. It may be completely selfish, but I don't care. That's the kind of person I am. And that's the kind of person you are. You have an open heart, and if my parents get their way and choose a wife for me, I'll end up with a cold bitch that is proper and abiding. We're talking about the rest of our lives! I don't think I could possibly do better than to keep you."
Malfoy took her face in his hands. She couldn't think. What was going on? He wanted to marry her?
"You're looking at this the wrong way. You're assuming this a problem that you need to fix, because that's one of your strengths. You fix things. You fix issues, and people, and social injustices. This doesn't need to be fixed."
Hermione couldn't get over it. He wasn't trying to weasel out of it! He was accepting it! Why wasn't he fighting? To Hermione it didn't make sense. There had to be an angle she wasn't seeing, a reason for him to want to continue.
"Even though you look completely bizarre without hair, I do want to marry you."
A/N:
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