A/N: Hello! I am so sorry about the long wait, I was just so busy with everything! I have beta stories now, and that keeps me busy. I have had major writer's block, and it sucks! So anyway, I'm sorry about the wait, again! Read on!
Chapter 10
I lowered myself back into the pool, aware of everyone's eyes on me. I looked up at Blaise, and he instantly averted his eyes. I sighed. There was a moment of silence, then Ron stomped down the steps and over the area of grass. I flinched at the sharp sound of the slamming door.
There was another few moments of silence, the tension in the air almost too unbearable. "Well, thank Merlin he isn't here anymore. One less redhead is fine with me."
I laughed at Malfoy's comment, trying to ease the tension. I looked over at him helplessly. I sighed. "Okay. I did what I had to. He wasn't do anything good for us. He'll only be mad for a bit. You know how he gets, Harry, Ginny. I didn't do anything bad, so calm down and let's just... relax, okay?" I suggested.
After that was much better. The tension loosened, and Mum brought out sandwiches and met Harry and Ginny. I attempted to teach them the Muggle game Marco Polo.
"Okay, so what you have to do is take turns. One person, say Harry, is 'Marco'. He closes his eyes and stretches his arms out in front of him. The others keep their eyes open, and the object of the game for them is not to get caught by Harry. The objective for the general for Harry is to get one of us. But whenever Harry says 'Marco', and he can do so at any time he would like, we have to say 'Polo'. That is how Harry will know where we are. Any questions?"
"How long does it last?" asked Marriett, who had joined the water with Parkinson.
"However long you like." We started the game after that. It turned out quite well, actually. Harry got Marriett, Marriett got Blaise, Blaise got me, and I got Malfoy.
"I am the champion!" yelled Ginny when she was the only one who didn't get caught. We all laughed, and agreed.
We were all on the deck, laying on lounge chairs. We weren't talking much, but we were getting along when we did. "So, before, when I was speaking about civilization. It is still quite possible..." I trailed off.
There was a few moments of silence. "I think that's a great idea. I mean, I will be over Blaise's house a bit, and you will be, too, since you are our friends. Well, Potter and Weaslette aren't exactly." I helped in surprise at Malfoy. He was the last person I expected to agree with me, on all things, civility. With Gryffindors.
"And you're speaking of civility. That means no nicknames," I said once I recovered.
"No nicknames, no last names." He smirked.
I smirked back. "Oh, trust me, I know...Draco."
"Well there's no way in bloody hell I'm calling them by their first names!" Blaise yelled. I rolled my eyes.
"You sound like Ronald. Well, he is usually worse." Ginny and I laughed.
"You know that is your brother Hoare laughing about Weas- Ginny." Pansy spoke to Ginny.
Ginny smirked and turned to her. "Yes. And I have six of them." They laughed and I smiled. They seemed to be getting along already.
"Come here," said a husky voice behind me. I turned around and saw Draco stepping down the steps of the deck. I furrowed my eyebrows, not sure whether it was him who had spoken to me, but I sat up in my lounge chair and caught his eye when he turned around. He nodded and I understood.
"Uh, guys, excuse me for a moment. I'll just be..." I trailed off when I realized that nobody was listening. Harry, Blaise, and Theo were speaking together, as were Ginny, Marriett, and Pansy. I padded down the deck, into the cool grass. Draco had disappeared into the house already. I furrowed my eyebrows again. But I walked into the house and looked around.
He wasn't there. I walked through the door, into the dining room, and up the stairs. I strode to his door, but it was open, and empty.
I walked out of the room, and noticed a paper on the door. Written it elegant and slanted writing, it said Safe Haven. I smiled and ran down the hall to the library. I opened the big doors, and looked around. Nobody was there. I furrowed my eyebrows.
You're disappointed. That Draco Malfoy isn't here. Sad that you didn't get to speak to him privately.
The small voice in my head made me realize the truth. It was only speaking the truth; I did want Draco to be there.
No! You can't and don't like Draco more than needed! a different small voice said.
I stood up straighter, and nearly left when, once again, a small piece of yellow parchment caught my eye. It was near the back section, the one with dark books. I furrowed my eyebrows, confused, and walked forward. Pull the book it said. It was pasted onto the book that...
That moved the bookcase.
Coming to a realization, I pulled the book out, as the note said, and stepped back. The bookcase fell back, revealing the great room behind the bookcase. There, sitting in the armchair right in the middle of the room, sat Draco, his eyes directed towards the open bookcase, as if expecting someone, which he may have been. I walked forward and sat across from him. For the first few moments, there was silence.
"You wanted to speak to me?"
Draco studied me carefully before he spoke. "Yes. I have a few questions."
I just raised an eyebrow, telling him to start.
"Why did you defend me against Weasle out there? By the pool?"
I shrugged. "Because he was making inaccurate accusations. It wasn't right."
"Maybe he wasn't," he answered, with an air of sureness.
"He was, trust me. What I said out there was true. You haven't thrown one insult at anybody since we got here. From my point of view over here, you have changed since the war."
"And you said you wouldn't let me leave."
I shrugged again. "Of course not. You did nothing wrong, and he did. And you are my brother's best mate, so, I don't exactly have the best choices with you."
He nodded. "Well, I would like to say thank you. For standing up for me. And the others... I think they want to thank you, too. You defended them, also."
"Well, there's no need. I really didn't do anything." There was a few minutes of silence, when I said, "So do these little get-togethers usually last long?"
"Yes. They don't really go home until about 12 o'clock. They are a rowdy bunch, they are."
I rolled my eyes. "Sure, and you're with them!"
"Hey, I'm not that bad!" I laughed.
"I think you are. Actually," I said thoughtfully, "all Slytherins are."
Draco rolled his eyes and they laughed. There was a comfortable silence between them. It lasted a few minutes before I said, "Is that all you needed to speak to me about?"
He sighed before he said, "Yes. I think we can go back to the pool." I nodded and stood. I walked out of the library (both of them) and heard Draco doing the same behind me. We walked down the stairs and through the dining room. I halted once I heard the loud, boisterous voices coming from the kitchen. I narrowed my eyes and pointed to the door with my chin, and walked to the kitchen.
In there, I found a rambunctious bunch huddled around the stove. I furrowed my eyebrows and shrugged back at Draco when he threw me a questioning look.
"What is going on here?" I asked.
Blaise turned around to look at us and said loudly, over the noise, "There they are! I was starting to get worried. Where were you?"
"Loo," I replied quickly, a little too quickly. I wasn't sure what the Slytherins would conclude if they found out I was alone with Draco for almost twenty minutes.
Blaise nodded and turned to Draco. "And you, mate?"
Draco just shook his head. Blaise's face instantly became sympathetic, seeming to understand the silent message Draco was sending to Blaise. I furrowed my eyebrows, confused, but turned back to Blaise.
"What're you guys doing?" I asked, trying to change the subject. Blaise immediately smiled again, and turned back to the crowd.
"We were taking turns trying to cook. It's Theo's turn now, and he is horrible at it." My eyes widened. They were playing with a stove!
I rushed forward, practically pushing Harry out of the way. "Sorry," I mumbled to him. I turned around to face the others, who were still preoccupied with Theo 's attempt at cooking. He was trying to make grilled cheese, and failing miserably.
"Hey, do you guys ever want to eat, or keep playing with a stove?" I asked loudly.
"Well, I don't know about anybody else, but I'm hungry, so I vote somebody makes us some food," said Ginny, grinning at me.
"I agree," said Harry.
"I'm hungry, also. And this is dangerous, Theo," said Marriett. She looked up at Theo with wide, pleading eyes.
Theo looked a down at Marriett, and sighed. "Okay, fine."
Pansy just sat down at the counter, next to Blaise. Draco shrugged and leaned against the counter.
I turned back to the stove. Quickly turning it off, I picked up the pan and through the unfixable grilled cheese sandwich in the garbage. I started making the grilled cheese, heating the bread until it was golden brow in some places, and the cheese was melting off the sides.
"Mia, this tastes even better than Mum's! Don't tell her I said that, though," Blaise said once he tasted the sandwich. We laughed together and took a bite of one of two of my sandwiches. He was, right, at least for a little part. It was pretty good.
"Thank you, Hermione," said Ginny.
"Oh, you're welcome, Ginny. You know how much I love to cook."
"You like to co-"
"Blaise, don't talk with your mouth full of food," I interrupted him sternly.
Blaise swallowed his food and looked over at Draco, who was also staring at me. "You sound just like Mum!" Blaise exclaimed, Draco nodding his head in agreement.
"I can remember at least a hundred times Sasha said the exact same thing to you in the exact same tones. Mia, you are just like Sasha," Draco stated.
We laughed. "Wait, you've met Sasha? That's Hermione's Mum, right?" Harry asked.
"Yes, I have met Sasha. I have known her for a while, now," Draco replied.
"How did you meet her?"
"Well, I am over here a lot," Draco explained. If I wasn't seeing this with my own eyes, and hearing this with my own ears, I would have never believed that Draco Malfoy was having a civil conversation with Harry Potter.
"Why? I mean, don't you have your manor?" There was a pounding silence in the room. Blaise put his plate down, looked at his shoes. Theo and Pansy, who I guess knew a bit about why Malfoy was here all the time, both shifted uncomfortably. I stiffened, not even knowing the whole story as to why Draco was here all of the time. But knowing part of the story, I knew it wasn't a welcome one to talk about.
Harry, Ginny and Marriett had no idea about why we were acting oddly, they seemed totally oblivious. I looked at Draco, thinking of a way to change the subject, but Draco beat me to speaking.
"Yeah, I have my manor. But it holds too many memories for me to stand, okay? So don't bring it up again," Draco snapped. I narrowed my eyes at him, straightening from my crouched position against the counter.
"Hey, there's no need to snap out, alright? I didn't know," Harry quickly defended himself.
"Well, you do now, don't you?" With that, Draco rushed out of the room. I heard him stomping up the stairs. Stunned, nobody said anything for a moment. Then everybody started speaking at once.
"Merlin, what is his story?" Ginny muttered.
"Oh, poor Draco, is he okay?" asked Marriett, looking at Blaise.
"I don't see the reason to snap," said Harry.
"He is sensitive about the subject, that's all," Blaise said, answering Harry.
Theo stared at the kitchen door and said nothing.
"He doesn't need any of you guys barging in on his business," said Pansy, obviously knowing more about the subject than I had bargained.
I stood against the counter, confused. But I spoke up, knowing nobody else was. "Blaise was right, he is just a little sensitive about that particular subject. Ginny, he just acted in the spur of the moment. Marriett, yes, he is. Pansy..." I looked at her, not knowing how to respond to that.
"I'm sorry, but it's true. You may not have known it, but that is a really sensitive subject, and he doesn't like to talk about it. You, people he hated for quite a while, don't need to know." Pansy spoke with wide eyes. "I'm not trying to sound like a..." She looked down. "I'm just trying to say the truth."
I stood, once again stunned, not knowing what to say. But after a while, I did. Nobody had spoken yet, and I said, "Well, I'm going to check up on him. And Pansy is coming with me." I grabbed Pansy's elbow, dragging her out of the kitchen.
As soon as the kitchen door swung closed behind us, she wrenched her arm out of my grip. "What in Merlin's name are you doing?" She asked, her voice hushed. I looked back at the kitchen door, and ignored her question as I walked upstairs. I heard her scrambling along behind me.
"You are the only reasonable one to come. Draco will just start to joke around with Blaise and Theo, and that's not what he needs. He needs to be confronted and spill the reason of his sudden snap out on Harry. Even I can tell he isn't even that close to Marriett, so he wouldn't say anything to her. Harry and Ginny? Please, that wouldn't happen in centuries. Even I can't go alone, because I'm not sure if he'll say anything to me."
"Then why did you come?"
"Because nobody else offered." We had this discussion at the top of the stairs, and I kept nervously glancing at Draco's door, which was past Blaise's. Pansy seemed deep in thought for a moment, then she nodded.
"Okay."
"Thank you. Now, do you know the full story behind this?"
She seemed hesitant to answer. "Yes."
"I don't. Before we go in there, I would like to know what is actually going on. Can you please tell me what happened, Pansy?" I asked, clenching my teeth as I said her name it loud.
"It isn't my story to tell!"
"No, but I am trying to help him, and Merlin knows he needs it. I can't exactly help him if I have no idea what is going on."
She sighed, but reluctantly started with the story. "He isn't at the manor because it holds many of the bad memories he had. Voldemort stayed there for almost three years, roamed Draco's own house, and tortured so many people there, and worse. After the war ended, the manor was completely transformed. Voldemort had insisted on making it different. He turned it dark, changing the light colours with dark, the pretty and interesting artefacts with ones that were ugly and had a dark history. Lucius was sent off to Azkaban, and Narcissa went off on an Auror mission, trying to forget the past and the fact that her husband was in prison for a second time. He couldn't stand being alone in the manor. He chose to stay here, having been best mates with Blaise since before Hogwarts and Sasha understanding completely." She shrugged. "He never thought that Blaise would happen to have a sister," Pansy gestured to me, "and though Blaise found out almost a year ago, he wasn't allowed to tell Draco."
I let out a huge breath, not realizing I wasn't breathing. I didn't know that it was that bad. I thought about for a moment, aware that Pansy was staring at me, waiting for meto answer. "Wow... that is mental. I... I didn't think it was that bad," I said quietly.
Pansy nodded her head. We stood there for a while before Pansy talked. "How ling have you been here?"
"About two nights. Why?"
"I never thought you would know any of this, especially after only a couple of nights."
I shrugged, but I was wondering about that, too. "I don't know why,"
Pansy looked at me suspiciously. After awhile, she spoke about another topic. "I feel sorry for him, but I can never tell him that. He hates pity. Whether somebody is pitying him, or somebody is expecting him to pity someone else, he hates it."
"I do, too."
"Well, let's go. And remember, no pity parties."
"Don't worry, I think I hate them almost as much as he does," I said, walking up to Draco's door. I raised my hand to knock.
A/N: Cliff hanger, I think. So, we finally learned about poor Draco's past. Although, I'm sure at least half of you guessed it already! Anyway, tell me if you like it in the box below. See that box? Just click it... you know you want to...