A/N: So I'm later than usual in posting this chapter, I apologize for that. Real life seems to come in the way occasionally! I'm preparing for the battle chapter which is not an easy one for me to write. WHO'S EXCITED? Just me? Cool. *shrugs*
Draco spent the rest of the day watching Hermione as she did her best to avoid him. He contemplated talking to her but she demanded an explanation for his attitude. How do you explain something you can't understand in the first place? Draco brooded. Eventually, he gave up on trying to lure her into a casual conversation.
"I'll see how things are going at the Manor and let you know." he said to Lupin who kept pushing him into coming back with a definite date as soon as possible.
Hermione felt a surge of disappointment when she saw Draco walk through the door without a backward glance. His mood swings frustrated her; she didn't know what caused them and it seemed like every time he came near her he entered some sort of a trance. A trance that was always interrupted too soon, and she desperately wanted to know what caused those moment. Maybe then she'd know the reason behind the abrupt change in his manner that usually followed.
Three days have passed and Hermione started to prefer the company of house elves than the questions her friends' company kept bringing. Harry and Ron seemed to be coming up with a new theory about Draco by every passing minute.
There was an air of anxiety allover the house. While Bill always sounded so sure that they were going to break into the manor and come back with the cup, Lupin seemed a lot less optimistic. A foreboding voice in Hermione's head kept reminding her of the impossibility of fighting such a battle without some of them at least suffering grave injuries.
They were having dinner when they heard the door open and footsteps walked down the stairs. Draco stood at the bottom of the stairs.
"The Dark Lord has left but I don't know for how long so you'll have to be quick." He informed without any introductions or casual greetings. "Tomorrow night would be a good time. As I said before, seven Death Eaters will be at the Manor." he added.
"Who are they again?" Mr. Weasly asked.
"Me, my parents, my aunt, Rookwood, Macnair and Travers." Draco said. "I'm not responsible for any sudden visitors, though." he warned.
"That's going to be easy, they're seven and we're ten; we outnumber them." Ron remarked confidently.
"But you don't out-skill them." Draco countered dryly before turning his attention to Hermione who looked like she was having a hard time swallowing her food.
"My mother and I will be here several hours earlier. So we could move her to your aunt's house and get her acquainted with it." he said and Hermione nodded silently in response.
He started climbing the stairs then stopped abruptly and turned around.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but_" he said as he squeezed the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes briefly "_wreak havoc on the manor. You're supposed to be looking for the sword not the cup. It would be too suspicious if you headed directly to the cup." he reminded.
Hermione was fretting all day long. She had hardly slept last night; the idea of another encounter with Narcissa Malfoy where she had to put up with all her prejudices was too much for her to handle. By the time Draco finally arrived, her nervous system was calling her names. She listened to Ginny as she expressed her worries and Tonks dismissed them for the umpteenth time as she as she crossed the living room to where Draco was waiting for her at the top of the stairs. Together, they walked out of the house to the street.
"Miss Granger." Narcissa Malfoy greeted tersely.
"Mrs. Malfoy." Hermion mumbled. So much for somebody who pretended not to have false prejudices, Hermione thought.
"Can we apparate or do we have to fly?" Draco asked. Narcissa grimaced at the idea of having to fly again. She sighed in relief when Hermione said that they didn't need to. She resisted the urge to step between her son and the young witch as he took hold of her elbow.
When they reached Hermione's aunt's house, Draco and Narcissa scanned their surroundings carefully. Hermione mused at how similar the two of them looked when they did that. She started trying one key after the other until she finally found the right key. She turned on the lights and started waving her wand around the house, lifting up the white sheets that covered the furniture. Narcissa entered the house, followed by Draco who was carrying her trunk.
Hermione guided Narcissa through the house, taking her upstairs to show her the bedrooms while Draco stayed in the living room. He wandered around the room, pausing at a set of photographs hanging on the wall. There were several pictures of a thin short woman with short brown hair, green eyes and a pointed nose. With her was a tall bulky man with grayish black hair. One of the pictures portrayed the woman in her mid-thirties, she was carrying a grinning toddler with a pair of notably large front teeth.
Muggle photographs were a half-hearted attempt at capturing moments, Draco decided as he watched the still pictures intently.
"That's my aunt." Hermione said as she stood behind Draco.
"I know." Draco replied "Where's my mother?" he asked.
"She's upstairs...making some changes to the bedroom." she said with a hint of disapproval in her voice.
"She could be hard to please sometimes." he admitted.
"Sometimes!" Hermione scoffed.
Draco twisted his mouth in amusement, the two women held very strong opinions against each other. And although hearing each of them voice her opinions about the others separately was interesting, having the two of them voice their opinions loudly in each others' presence proved to be disastrous. He started to say something but stopped as he saw his mother descending the stairs.
"How do you like the house?" Draco asked his mother avidly.
"Convenient." Narcissa replied with a curt nod.
Hermione frowned at the older woman, she wasn't just rude to her, she was the same with her own son. The cold woman standing in front of her couldn't possibly be the same woman who was almost reduced to tears at the sight of her injured son.
"What's that?" she heard Narcissa's voice ask and she followed her to see what she was asking about.
"That's a fridge." Hermione replied.
"What does it do?" Narcissa asked as she stepped carefully closer to the fridge.
Hermione paused to think for a moment, she had lived with those appliances her whole life but she never had to explain them to anybody.
"It's to..keep the food fresh and..cold." Hermione said hesitantly "You keep here anything that could be spoilt if it stayed uneaten for too long." Hermione added, hoping that her explanation made sense. Narcissa nodded slightly
"Speaking of food, how do you get food here?" Narcissa asked.
"There's a supermarket nearby, you can find most of your needs there. I'll stock the fridge for you now and I'll visit you again soon before it's empty." Hermione answered.
"What did you do about the money?" Hermione asked Draco as Narcissa left the kitchen and started wandering around the house. Draco took out a stack of pounds from his pocket and placed it in Hermione's hand.
"That's too much!" Hermione said. Draco shrugged apologetically.
"You know_" Hermione said after a thoughtful pause "_I think what you're doing for your mother is very impressive." she added tentatively.
"Did some of my actions finally meet your approval?" Draco raised his eyebrow at her "I think I can die in peace now." he twisted his mouth sardonically at her.
"Do you have to belittle or mock everything I say?" Hermione grimaced at him.
Draco cursed himself inwardly. "You're right, I'm sorry." he conceded.
"You know what?" Draco said "Let's repeat that." he suggested. Hermione looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face.
"Repeat what you said again and I promise I won't cock it up this time." he explained.
Hermione studied him for a moment before speaking "Alright..I think what you're doing for your mother is impressive." she repeated.
Draco walked towards Hermione purposefully and she stepped back. He moved closer and she found herself trapped between him and the counter behind her. He pressed his lips against the corner of her mouth. "Thank you" he murmured.
He felt a shiver run through her back beneath his hand.
A loud noise was heard from the living room followed by a high pitched scream then an explosion. Draco jumped away from Hermione and followed his mother's scream.
"Are you okay?" Draco asked his mother who held one hand over her chest while the other was holding her wand tightly.
"What happened?" Hermione asked as she looked at the clouds of smoke emitting from the television.
"That..that...thing_"Narcissa stammered looking at the television. "_I don't know what happened. There was a..a button and I pressed it then I heard a man screaming 'attack' so I stunned him!" Narcissa explained with wide eyes.
"That was probably a movie."
"A what?"
"A movie...it's like a..umm..a story told in pictures..moving pictures" Hermione explained with difficulty.
"Anyway, it doesn't matter." she dismissed, raising her wand at the television trying to fix it. After trying different spells she was finally able to do so.
"I should go to the supermarket now." Hermione announced.
"I'll come with you." Draco offered.
Hermione was about to decline his offer but then Narcissa Malfoy spoke. "I'm sure Ms. Granger can manage on her own, Draco." she said, smiling with exaggerated politeness at Hermione.
"Actually_" Hermione lifted her chin up "_I think it's very nice of Draco to offer coming with me." she looked at Narcissa with equally exaggerated innocence.
"Let's go." she said as she nearly dragged Draco behind her. As they walked to the door, Hermione could swear she heard Narcissa Malfoy's scoff.
"You really need to stop switching between names; it's confusing." Draco said as they walked down the street.
"What names?" Hermione asked.
"Draco, Malfoy." he replied, moving his hands up and down as if weighing the two names.
"They're both yours so it doesn't matter which one I use."
"My question is why not use just one of them."
"I don't know!" Hermione sighed impatiently. "You call me Granger and it sounds...hostile, but you don't see me complaining, do you?"
"Would you prefer it if I used your first name?"
"Yes." Hermione answered Draco's obvious question. "Alright" Draco conceded with a nod.
Hermione was willing to give an arm just to get inside Draco's head right now. Less that fifteen minutes ago he was almost kissing her. Now he's once again casual, discussing something as trivial as what they should be calling each other. But was it really trivial? Hermione contemplated. Probably it was, for him. For her, though, using his first name felt like she was crossing an imaginary line.
They reached the supermarket and Hermione pushed the shopping cart in front of her. Her eyes scanned the several racks. Draco studied the place with unhidden interest, careful not to lose Hermione as she strolled through the aisles.
"What food does your mother hate the most?" Hermione asked.
"So you could buy loads of it?" Draco grinned at her.
"As tempting at this sounds, no." Hermione grinned back at him "I'll just try to stay away from it." she added.
"Well..she really hates fish, so you'd want to stay away from that." he said after a thoughtful pause.
Hermione felt like she had taken a child with her. Draco looked curiously at almost everything the racks held. More than once she found herself suppressing a laugh at the way he held some items and inspected them carefully.
But what interested Hermione the most was how Draco reacted to being in the Muggle world, in a supermarket surrounded by Muggles. He wasn't whining, firing looks of contempt at people or even urging her to leave.
They were almost done, When Draco bumped into a girl. Slightly short and thin with long straight dirty blonde hair. She had thin almond-shaped eyes and a nose that seemed to Hermione too tiny for her face. The girl was trying to balance some boxes of cereal along with a carton of milk on one hand while the other hand held only a bottle of shampoo when Draco bumped into her. He crouched down and started retrieving the boxes.
"Thank you." the girl beamed at Draco.
"You're welcome." he replied nonchalantly.
"You're not from here, are you?" the girl asked as she placed the boxes on an empty rack next to her.
"No, we're just visiting a relative." Hermione interrupted Draco before he started speaking. The girl seemed to finally notice her. She glanced at Hermione, her eyes studied her briefly from head to toe before she nodded at her with a faint smile and turned her attention back to Draco.
"I'm Olivia." she said, extending her hand to Draco.
"Draco." he introduced himself, taking a moment longer than usual before releasing her hand.
"Draco.." the girl repeated the name with a tilt of her head "_that's a very unique name." she complimented, twisting a tendril of her hair around her finger. Hermione gaped at the girl, barely holding back a scoff.
"Nice meeting you, Draco." the girl said with a wide smile.
"It was great meeting you too, Olivia. Too bad we're in a hurry." Hermione forced a polite smile on her face as she urged Draco forward. The girl's mouth fell open at what she saw as a rude ending forced on her conversation with Draco.
"Draco Malfoy the gentleman." Hermione mocked under her breath as they headed back to the street, the words coming out of her mouth before she could stop them.
"Are we back at the point where nothing I do seems to be good enough?" Draco raised a questioning eyebrow at her.
"No..I'm just saying that we're here on a mission, we don't have time for socializing." Hermione replied.
"I wasn't exactly seeking her out. She ran into me." Draco countered.
"It doesn't matter, what I'm trying to say is, we have to be more careful." Hermione explained.
"She hardly looks like she could be one of the Dark Lord's followers in disguise." Draco smirked.
Hermione wanted to retort, to say something about how his skeptic nature jumped out of the window at the sight of a girl but she decided not to pick up a fight. She felt a surge of an unidentified emotion, an unpleasant one. But it wasn't jealousy, Hermione shook her head, definitely not jealousy.